Three women arrested for passport forgery

JAKARTA (JP): City police have arrested three female members of a syndicate believed to have falsified identification cards and other documents required for the issuance of over 500 passports.

Police spokesman Lt. Col. Bambang Permantoro told reporters yesterday that the three suspects were arrested on Tuesday morning at their "office" at Jl. Sungai Bambu Raya No. 5, Sungai Bambu district in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta.

"We're still questioning a number of the passport owners, as well as several witnesses, in order to find the other members of the syndicate," Bambang said.

However, he refused to explain whether the police have also summoned for questioning officials of related institutions, who are believed to have played certain roles in helping the group produce the bogus ID cards and documents.

"I have no idea about that, we are still conducting our investigation," the spokesman said.

The three suspects, temporarily detained at the Pondok Bambu Women Penitentiary in East Jakarta, are identified as Sri Sumanti, 36, Mamah Abdul Hamid, 34, and Sunarti, 22.

The first two suspects are housewives. According to police, Sri has a leading role in the crime by running a legal service bureau for passport applicants.

Based on preliminary investigations, police said that the three women allegedly used fake identities, official seals of many government bodies, birth certificates, residential identity cards (KTP), marriage certificates and family member cards.

During police questioning, Sri confessed that her bureau had handled the issuance of at least 500 passports over the last two years.

They said that they usually earned at least Rp 200,000 (US$89.40), which they charged each of the passport applicants.

It is strongly believed that most of the passport applicants are Indonesian citizens of Chinese origin.

Among the bogus official seals used by the suspects in their operation are those of government bodies and officers' names from many districts in and around the city, as well as those in Medan, North Sumatra and Singkawang, West Kalimantan.

The government bodies include state courts, population agencies, district offices and marriage registration offices.

Sri told the police that she had established a "special link" with someone, identified as Rameni Ali, at the Central Jakarta Immigration Office.

"We've just discovered that this man is not an official from the immigration office," Bambang said. (bsr)