The Bali police arrested a taxi driver with the initials KEP (40) for allegedly extorting money from Singaporean tourists. This incident occurred at Jalan Padang Linjong, Canggu Village, North Kuta District, Badung Regency, Bali, on Tuesday, the 20th of June 2023, at around 10 a.m. WITA.
View this post on Instagram
After being interrogated, the taxi driver admitted to extorting money from the Singaporean tourist because she used an online taxi instead of a conventional one.
The Bali Police’s Head of Public Relations, Kombes Pol Satake Bayu, said that the taxi driver was arrested after the video of the alleged money extortion against Singaporean tourists went viral on social media on Tuesday, 20th of June 2023.
“The North Kuta Police Criminal Investigation Unit has secured all of the alleged perpetrators and brought the taxi driver to the North Kuta Police office for further questioning,” said Satake in a written statement on Wednesday, the 21st of June 2023.
According to the perpetrator’s statement, Satake said that the incident started when the taxi driver was notified by one of the local villa staff that a foreign tourist had just checked out and was looking for transportation to Ngurah Rai Airport.
KEP then rushed to the villa where the Singaporean tourist was staying to offer his services to the foreign tourist at the cost of IDR 270,000.
However, the Singaporean tourist refused to use KEP’s services and insisted on using an online taxi. After a few minutes, an online taxi came to pick up the Singaporean tourist.
“KEP then informed the online taxi driver that online taxis were not allowed to pick up guests in the area,” said Satake.
According to the perpetrator’s statement, Satake explained that the foreign tourist from Singapore had previously offered IDR 100,000 to KEP to let him travel using an online taxi and continue his journey to the airport.
KEP refused to accept the money and asked for IDR 150,000. They would be invited to the local village office if it was not given. After bargaining, the perpetrators finally accepted IDR 100,000 from the victims and let them go.
Satake said that KEP is still undergoing further questioning and investigation at the North Kuta Police Office to determine his motive.
Interested in this topic? Check out our other articles from Social Expat:
