Police arrest an Air Force office in counterfeit ring
Police arrest an Air Force office in counterfeit ring
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Jakarta Police officers have arrested an Air Force officer and
three civilians for trading in counterfeit U.S. dollar bank notes
and seized the equivalent of US$246,000.
"The suspects are now in detention at the city police
headquarters. They were arrested on Oct. 8 and charged with
violating Article 245 of the Criminal Code on distributing
counterfeit banknotes," the city police detectives chief Sr.
Comr. Mathius Salempang announced during a press conference on
Thursday.
The crime carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
The police said that Antonius Sujarwo, 53, an officer at the
training center at Halim Perdanakusumah Air Force base and Eddy
Purnomo, 46, possessed the counterfeit dollar banknotes. While
Maman, 46 and Anton Sanjaya, 51, were suspected as dealers of the
counterfeit money.
The police received a tip-off from residents, who said that
there were counterfeit dollar banknotes being traded in Kebon
Nanas, East Jakarta. They later managed to arrest Maman and Anton
while they were in the act of exchanging the notes.
The two suspects told the police that they sold each US$100
dollar banknote for just Rp 100,000 (US$10.95). The current
exchange rate for US$1 as of Thursday was at Rp 9,135.
They also informed the police of the whereabouts of Eddy and
Antonius. The police later arrested them.
From the four suspects, the police confiscated 2,460 copies of
the US$100 notes.
The counterfeit banknotes displayed at the police headquarters
were in different tones of black tint. Some of them looked
similar to the real ones, but others looked slightly gray.
However, if the banknote was touched, it had a similar texture
as the real money and even that new dollar smell.
"For people not familiar with U.S. dollar banknotes, they
could have believed that the money was real," the police said.
Salempang said that detectives were still pursuing other, more
senior, members of the syndicate who had helped the four suspects
manufacture the counterfeit money.
Earlier, the police explained that counterfeit money
syndicates had a similar modus operandi as drug syndicates. They
had a long chain of syndicate members, who only knew their
immediate superior and not other members of the syndicate.
Frequently, the police lose track at the middle of the chain
and seldom arrest the top members of such vice syndicates.