Stripes betray 'army' playboy

JAKARTA (JP): A 24-year-old jobless man posing as an Army special force (Kopassus) member had his love adventure abruptly ended because the military stripes he attached upside down on his sleeves eventually betrayed him.

The man was with a woman he was dating when two military officers arrested him in the Maluku capital of Ambon after noticing that the man had placed the stripes upside down on his otherwise impressive uniform.

Initially, the impostor tried to convince the two officers that he was an off-duty member of the elite force by showing a letter of furlough from Jakarta's Kopassus headquarters under the name of Rizal Taju.

"He gave up after he failed to produce an ID card and couldn't explain how to wear the stripes correctly," Ambon's military commander, Lt. Col. Human Rochman, said as quoted by Antara.

The man, whose real name was withheld by Human, was arrested on a motorboat while on his way to Tual, southeast Maluku, with a 23-year-old woman who was impressed by his military look, he said.

The perpetrator said he was from Jaililo, North Maluku, and that he had just been dismissed by a company in Jakarta's industrial estate of Pulogadung.

He said he bought the military uniform for Rp 70,000 (US$9) at Senen market in Central Jakarta before he left for his home village. (pan)