TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Police fugitive and Youtube content creator Ferdian Paleka, who briefly evaded police arrest, was eventually nabbed by the Bandung Police on early Friday, May 8, at the Tangerang - Merak toll road.

The Youtuber's fate was sealed after he, along with two other fellow content creators, produced a video that sparked public outrage where he distributed boxes, concealed as staple foods social assistance, which were actually filled with bricks and trash to a transgender group in Bandung.

His arrest was documented by police who is also a local Instagram celebrity, Muhammad Gariz Luis Ma’luf, who shared a photo of Ferdian at a police station sat with both hands cuffed and also wrote a caption in one of the images slides that read; “End of the hunt for a garbage Youtuber.”

Police were involved in brief cat-and-mouse with the Youtuber after the first attempted arrest on him at Bogor turned out to be a false lead. The fugitive’s car that police tracked at the time was intentionally driven by Ferdian Paleka’s father and relative to deceive authorities.

According to a previous announcement by the Bandung Police Chief Sr. Commissioner Ulung Sampurna Jaya suggests that Ferdian Paleka and his two associates involved in the Youtube “prank” will be charged under the Information and Electronic Transactions Law (UU ITE) and face imprisonment up to 12 years.

Istiqomatul Hayati