Dili, 04 April 2026 (Media Democracia) – The 11 suspects previously involved in an online scamming case in the Jita Plaza area attempted to flee national territory.
These suspects were apprehended and investigated by the Criminal Investigation Service Directorate on Thursday (09/10) last year, due to strong indications of online scamming practices in the Zita Plaza and Colmera areas.
The National Police of Timor-Leste, through the Criminal Investigation Service Directorate, detained the 11 suspects before presenting them to the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
After the suspects were presented for judicial proceedings, the Court decided to apply the coercive measure of periodic reporting. As such, the suspects were obligated to report to the Public Prosecutor’s Office once every two weeks.
On Thursday night (30/04), after completing their periodic reporting at the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the suspects showed intent to flee national territory.
Subsequently, the suspects paid a Timorese citizen to act as a guide to facilitate their attempt to flee the country.
On that same Thursday night, the guide rented a bus from Suai to transport the suspects to Cova Lima Municipality, with the intention that once there, they could cross the Suai border into Betun.
The Timorese guide that the suspects used contracted the bus for two hundred dollars ($200), and they began the journey on the Suai bus from Dili to Suai.
When their journey reached the Casa area in Ainaro Municipality, intelligence officers detected their movement, stopped them immediately, and transferred the suspects to the PNTL Command in Ainaro Municipality for investigation.
After the PNTL Ainaro Municipality Command finalized the identification process on Friday (01/04), on that same day, the Criminal Investigation Service Directorate (DSIK) of Ainaro Municipality transferred the suspects to the National Criminal Investigation Service Directorate, PNTL General Command in Kaikoli, to continue the investigation.
Once DSIK completes the investigation, they will submit the suspects’ case file to duty Prosecutor Matias Soares, to request the Dili Court of First Instance to consider changing the previously applied coercive measure. The periodic reporting measure may be changed to preventive detention, because there are indications the suspects attempted to flee national territory.
The suspects’ actions meet the requirements to apply the coercive measure of preventive detention, according to Article 183 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
That article states the suspects’ actions fulfill the elements of a crime, because there is a presumption of well-founded danger, such as the danger of evading justice, the danger of obstructing the investigation, and the danger of continuing criminal activity.
Currently, the National Criminal Investigation Service Directorate is still conducting the investigation of the suspects.
According to information accessed by Media Democracia journalists, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, through duty Prosecutor Matias Soares, authorized security authorities to re-detain the suspects for 72 hours before presenting them to the Court, to consider changing the coercive measure from periodic reporting to preventive detention.
The PNTL Commander of Ainaro Municipality, Chief Superintendent Emilio dos Santos, said that the Ainaro Municipality Command received information from the intelligence team that 11 foreign citizens who were under the court’s periodic reporting measure were suspected of attempting to flee national territory.
“Therefore, members conducted an operation in the Casa, Ainaro area and successfully detected and captured the 11 citizens, including one Timorese who acted as a guide, and also secured the Suai-bound bus that was transporting them.” said Chief Superintendent Emilio dos Santos.
He said the citizens began their journey from Dili to Suai at 16:30 in the evening, and the PNTL Ainaro Municipality managed to detain the vehicle transporting them to Suai with the intention of crossing into neighboring Indonesia. The PNTL Commander of Ainaro Municipality, Chief Superintendent Emilio dos Santos, made this statement to journalists at the PNTL General Command in Kaikoli on Friday.
In the same place, Suai bus driver Carlos dos Santos informed that the foreign citizens contracted him to take them to Suai, Covalima Municipality. But when they reached the road in the Casa area, they were stopped by Traffic Police and PNTL units from Ainaro Municipality.
“They called to rent the bus to go only to Suai, we don’t know anything else. We picked them up from Manleu-ana and when we reached Casa, the Traffic Police stopped us. The foreign citizens gave us two hundred dollars ($200) total.” said Carlos Dos Santos.
The driver said that when they were transporting the foreign citizens, the citizens asked not to stop along the way and to continue the journey.
Meanwhile, the online scamming case that occurred on Thursday (09/10) last year in the Zita Plaza and Kolmera area was previously registered by the National Police of Timor-Leste (PNTL), through the Criminal Investigation Service Directorate (DSIK), under NUC 0323/25-PNSIK, and currently DSIK has re-registered the case under NUK 0166/26-PNSIK.
Report By: Estefania Cardoso
Photo By: Estefania Cardoso