Bogus marine major arrested in Pulo Gebang

JAKARTA (JP): The Marine Corps has arrested a debt collector claiming to be a marine major following a report from a resident who fell victim to his trickery, an officer in the corps' information unit said on Tuesday.

Maj. Ibrahim Sadong told reporters that the suspect was identified as 36-year-old Anwar Daud, who comes from Bima in West Nusa Tenggara.

Anwar, a honey trader who also worked as a freelance debt collector, was arrested in his rented house in Pulo Gebang, East Jakarta, on Friday, Ibrahim said.

Anwar allegedly claimed that he was a marine major who chaired the Marine Corps' Family Cooperative.

"He deliberately printed name cards using the Marine Corps logo and distributed them to people to convince them," Ibrahim said.

A box of name cards, a Marine Corps T-shirt and an air pistol were confiscated from Anwar's house, which he claimed, in front of his victims, functioned as his office as well.

"We had no trouble tracing him as he left name cards bearing his telephone number with the victims," Ibrahim said.

A Pejaten resident named Temmy reported to the Marine Corps' Jakarta headquarters that his wife had been intimidated by a marine major coming to their house after she was unable to pay debts of Rp 100 million (US$13,333).

Temmy's wife owed the money to someone called Rohim, who sent the "marine major" to collect the debt.

Speaking to reporters, Anwar said that Rohim offered him 40 percent of any debts he collected.

"Who would not be tempted by such an offer in these difficult times. I can't depend solely on honey trading right now as I have to feed my four children and send them to school," he said.

However, Ibrahim said he would not immediately believe what Anwar disclosed because the latter seemed to be "too smart"to be just a honey trader and phony major.

"We'll pursue the case because three months ago we apprehended a group of people who misused the Marine Corps name to extort money from Chinese-Indonesian businesspeople," he said.

"Anwar Daud is still in our custody as we need him for our investigation, but he will soon be transferred to the city police for further questioning," Ibrahim said. (emf)