Indonesia's Prabowo sacks chief of staff arrested for allegedly tapping his phone
PauseandPonderTV · Thu, 5 Nov 2026Former police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo is accused of illegally listening in on the President and cabinet ministers.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has dismissed his chief of staff, Listyo Sigit Prabowo, 24 hours after police said they had detained him on suspicion of secretly listening in on senior officials, the President among them.
Police say Listyo, who led the National Police for five years before taking the chief of staff job last month, illegally monitored the phones of several high-profile figures, among them cabinet ministers, with help from two serving officers. They also accuse the suspects of ordering intercepted communications to be deleted.
Two other senior officers were reportedly arrested, including the head of the police legal division.
A presidential spokesman said the acts may amount to treason and had put the safety of the head of state at risk. The government said the motive was not yet known.
More than 20,000 soldiers were deployed in Jakarta this week, though the military described it as standard procedure and did not link it to the arrests.
Source: this report is based on reporting by Al Jazeera.
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