Police tally counterfeiters, refute link with general election campaign

Police tally counterfeiters, refute link with general election campaign

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta Police detectives chief Sr. Comr. Mathius Salempang
revealed on Friday that the police have arrested eight suspected
minor players in counterfeit money syndicates since early this
year.

The police seized from the suspects counterfeit Rp 50,000 and
Rp 100,000 banknotes worth Rp 60.25 million (US$7,088) as
evidence.

"We have successfully apprehended the counterfeit money
circulators," he said. "However, we are still tracking down
counterfeit money syndicates, particularly their leaders."

Bank Indonesia reported on Thursday a jump in the circulation
of counterfeit banknotes in January and February this year.

A central bank report shows that fake money circulating in
Jakarta reached Rp 221.8 million in January and Rp 317 million in
February. The figure is a sharp increase compared to last year's
Rp 82.7 million in January and Rp 61 million in February.

The media have reported allegations that some political
parties had been using counterfeit banknotes to attract
supporters.

However, the allegations were dismissed by Jakarta Police
chief Insp. Gen. Makbul Padmanagara, saying that the counterfeit
money syndicates had nothing to do with general elections. They
were in the business long before the legislative election
campaign, which kicked off on March 11, he argued.

Salempang said that police officers had arrested two men
recently in different operations after they used the counterfeit
notes to pay for some items worth Rp 850,000 in Tangerang and Rp
1.4 million in West Jakarta.

Earlier in January, the police arrested two suspects in East
Jakarta for allegedly possessing counterfeit money worth Rp 40
million by deploying plainclothes officers, posing as potential
buyers.

In the same month, police also apprehended four suspects in
Bekasi and seized Rp 18 million from them in counterfeit Rp
50,000 banknotes.