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