Five Indonesians arrested in Sydney

JAKARTA (JP): Police here are still establishing whether the five Indonesians arrested by Australian airport customs officers last Friday have criminal records.

The Indonesians were arrested in Sydney for allegedly possessing fake credit cards and international driving licenses.

Secretary of the Indonesian bureau of Interpol, Brig. Gen. Ahwil Lutan, told reporters here yesterday that the information on the criminal records would help the Australian police in their current investigation against them.

"We need a week or two to find out whether they are listed as criminals in Indonesia," Lutan said.

Lutan identified the five Indonesians as Rudi Hadinoto, 25, Jerry Tjandra, 25, Anthony Wijaya, 24, Anthony Herawan, 37, and female suspect, Wiwin Sunanda, 37. Initial reports stating that only three people were arrested turned out to be incorrect.

The officer said that the locals were arrested soon after arriving at Sydney international airport on a flight from Jakarta on Friday morning.

The airport customs officers found at least five counterfeit credit cards and several blank international driving licenses, Lutan said.

The agency's correspondent in Australia quoted local papers as saying that the three suspects were arrested with 31 fake credit cards and eight blank international driving licenses on their possession.

Australian immigration officers were tipped off before their arrival.

They were immediately searched by the officers under the eyes of local police upon arrival, it said.

According to Lutan, Rudi came to the Australian embassy here on April 15 to get his visa, saying that he was planning to play golf in Sydney.

During police interrogations in Australia, Rudi and Jerry said that they were executives of different companies in Jakarta.

Antara said that the suspects were scheduled in court yesterday.

In another unrelated development, Lutan said that the Australian police have informed Jakarta of the arrest of an Indonesian, identified as Subagio Lagaida Prabowo, a suspect in the 1994 bank fraud worth Rp 4 billion (US$1.7 million) in Salatiga, Central Java.

"We're still waiting for the local court's decision whether extradition of the suspect to Indonesia will go ahead," Lutan said.

The suspect left his job as director of BPR (People's Credit Bank) branch in Salatiga in late 1994 after allegedly pilfering Rp 4 billion in customer deposits.

"He's believed to have lived in the U.S. and Australia," Lutan said. (bsr)