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Dozens of students were arrested on Tuesday when they were caught ditching class to access the social networking Web site Facebook at a number of Internet cafes in Banten.

Rachman Suhendar, the chief of the South Tangerang Public Order Office, said the raid was held in collaboration with the South Tangerang Education Office and the local police, and was aimed at students who skipped school to “hang out” at Internet cafes and malls.

“We managed to detain 65 high school students in the Ciputat area,” Rachman said, adding that the students were caught checking their Facebook accounts at Internet cafes located on Jalan IH Juanda and Jalan KH Dewantoro in Ciputat.

Split in two separate teams, the officers detained students who were in their school uniforms but were found at Plaza Ciputat during school hours.

Officers had to chase down some students who ran away when they found out their friends had been captured.

The raids were also conducted in malls located in Pamulang, Bintaro and Serpong.

Dadang Sofyan, the head of the South Tangerang Education Office, said the raid was a reaction to complaints filed by residents.

Dadang also said that the detained students would be returned to their parents, and schools would be urged to discipline them.

Facebook has recently been thrust into the spotlight as more and more criminal cases among teens are linked to the social networking site.

In February, four students in Tanjung Pinang, Riau Islands, were expelled because they posted murder and mutilation threats to a teacher.

In Bandung, police also raided Internet cafes and rounded up dozens of students who were skipping school to play computer games or chat with their friends online. Those raids came in response to complaints from parents and teachers about children cutting classes to spend time online, an official said.

Despite low wages and poor Internet infrastructure, Indonesians are among the world’s most dedicated users of social networking sites like Facebook. The raids come amid domestic debate over how to balance freedom of speech and access to information with protecting society from Internet sites deemed to be indecent or inciting violence.