Several top Indonesian officials have stated their concerns that the phenomenally popular mobile game Pokemon GO could potentially cause security breaches in Indonesia, considering the augmented reality game pushes players to explore their surroundings while collecting GPS and photo data.
Many people dismissed their worries as ridiculous and overblown, but those officials no doubt feel vindicated over news that a Frenchman visiting Indonesia for business entered a military complex in Cirebon, West Java, yesterday while playing Pokemon GO.
According to authorities, the 27-year-old French citizen, identified as Romain Pierre, apparently should have known he was going into a restricted area (maybe he thought there was a Vaporeon hiding inside the base).
“He jumped over the base’s portal, and was then secured,” West Java Police spokesman Yusri Yunus said on Tuesday as quoted by Detik.
The incident took place on Monday night at about 11pm. Romain was said to be jogging around the area in search of the virtual creatures.
“He said he was hunting Pokemon,” Yusri told the media.
Romain was detained by military security personnel and then handed over to the Cirebon Police for questioning. The Frenchman told the police he was in Indonesia for business and was staying with other members of his group in a nearby hotel.
The French citizen was released by police at about 2am on Tuesday morning and returned to the hotel after police checked that his passport and visa were in order.
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