Police rend passport forgery network

Police rend passport forgery network

SURABAYA: East Java Police have uncovered a passport forgery
syndicate suspected of sending migrant workers abroad with false
documents.

Sr. Comr. Sutarman, provincial chief of detectives, said on
Tuesday that four suspects in the labor smuggling ring had been
arrested following the deportation of Indonesian migrant workers
from the United States.

The suspects, identified as Damanhuri, 34, Susini, 45, Agus
Wandi, 30, and Nawari, 42, confessed that they had formed two
separate groups, one dealing in counterfeit passports and the
other finding job seekers in East Java.

The police also confiscated 71 forged passports, 11
citizenship cards, and bank transfer papers and other forged
documents believed to have been used in the scams.

The police have continued the probe into the possible
involvement of local immigration office officials in the crime.
-- JP

Counterfeit dealer gets five years

BANJARMASIN, South Kalimantan: The Banjarmasin District Court
sentenced a man on Wednesday to five years in jail for keeping
and circulating counterfeit banknotes of considerable monetary
value.

Local police officers said Haryanto, alias Yanto, 37, had been
arrested in March after the capture of another suspect, Rahmadi,
who confessed that he got the counterfeit banknotes from Yanto.

Plainclothes officers, disguising themselves as Rahmadi's
friends, asked him to call up Yanto with an order for Rp 3
million (US$357) to be sent to Jl. Belitung Darat, Banjarmasin.

As soon as Yanto arrived at the scene with the money, the
police caught him and seized the counterfeit notes.

Yanto has confessed to having Rp 45,050,000 in counterfeit
money at his home.

The counterfeit money, which was confiscated as evidence from
his home on Jl. Mayjen Sutoyo, Banjarmasin, consisted of 295
sheets of Rp 100,000 banknotes and 311 sheets of Rp 50,000 notes.
-- Antara