Jakarta: Indonesian immigration authorities have arrested an Australian man for allegedly running a coffee shop and bakery on a university campus while only holding a tourist visa.
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Sayegh Ghassan was arrested on Friday while serving meals at Gus Kitchen at the Depok campus of the University of Indonesia.
The head of Depok Immigration office, Dudi Iskander, said the Australian could face up to five years' jail and a maximum fine of 500 million Rupiah (about $50,000) if a court found him guilty of violating immigration law.
"We received information from people that there was a suspicion of immigration violation by a foreigner," Mr Dudi said.
"We checked it and it was true so we arrested him. We will investigate the university too about why it has a foreigner running a canteen on a visa on arrival only."
Depok immigration investigator Hendy Darmawan said Mr Ghassan, who was from Sydney, had been running a canteen called Gus Kitchen for about a year on the Depok campus and a bakery called Gus Daniel, which had only recently opened.
Both the cafe and bakery are now closed.
"He's been coming into Indonesia several times since 2015 using a Visa on Arrival and a Visit Visa," he said.
Mr Darmawan said he believed there was sufficient evidence to hand the case over to the prosecutor's office in the near future.
Indonesia takes a tough stance on foreigners who work in the country without holding the correct visa and work permit.
Last month Australian forensic pathologist Professor Beng Beng Ong was deported and banned from entering Indonesia for six months after he testified in the alleged cyanide coffee murder trial while only holding a tourist visa.
And Daily Mail journalist Candace Sutton was last year deported from Indonesia for not holding the correct visa while reporting on the executions of Bali nine members Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
