Four held for counterfeiting money in C. Java

Blontank Poer, The Jakarta Post, Surakarta, Central Java

Central Java Police detectives arrested on Wednesday night four people in Tawangmangu, Karanganyar regency, for counterfeiting.

The police also seized, among other things, fake money amounting to Rp 35 million, which was ready for circulation, and hundreds of sheets of paper used for Rp 50,000 banknotes.

Sr. Comr. Hasyim Irianto, the chief of Surakarta Police, confirmed the arrests on Thursday, but acknowledged that three other suspects had escaped during the raid on a rented house in Jetis subdistrict, Tawangmangu district, some 50 kilometers east of Surakarta municipality.

The evidence was taken to Central Java Police Headquarters in Semarang, the capital of Central Java, including 652 sheets of banknote paper, two printing machines, two computers, two scanners, a template and various kinds of ink.

Detectives first suspected the existence of a counterfeiting operation in Surakata when local resident, Cahyo Widodo alias Salman alias Fariz, was observed allegedly selling fake money in a local hotel.

Cahyo, a fugitive, had escaped Ambarawa Prison in Central Java two years ago. He was proven guilty of selling fake money and was sentenced to 15 years in prison by Semarang District Court.

The police did not arrest Cahyo but began to investigate his activities, which led them to the rented house in Jetis subdistrict, where they arrested the four suspected counterfeiters.

Karanganyar Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Amrin Remico, whose personnel cooperated with the Surakarta Police in the investigation, identified two other suspects as Bangun Rahino and Subandi.

The two were known as old players in the fake money business.

They confessed that they had produced the counterfeit money over 40 days. Each day, they said, they produced Rp 70 million worth of fake money of various denominations. In total, they had allegedly produced Rp 2.8 billion worth of fake money. They also said that the fake money had been distributed in Central Java and West Java provinces.

The suspects admitted that they had made Rp 400 million from counterfeiting. "But we will question them further as the amount of money they claim they made is much less than our estimate," said Amrin.

The practice of counterfeiting has been rampant in the country over the past few years. Usually, a counterfeiting syndicate sells the bills for one-third or one-quarter less than the face value of the fake money.

Hasyim refused to comment on whether counterfeit money had been used by political parties to finance their campaigns.

"We are looking into the case," he said.