Two Nigerians arrested for selling phony dollars
JAKARTA (JP): Police apprehended two Nigerians on Tuesday at Sahid Jaya Hotel in Jakarta for allegedly counterfeiting U.S. banknotes, city police detective chief Alex Bambang Riatmodjo said on Thursday.
He said the two suspects, identified as Daniel Johnson, 25, and Mike Johnson, 26, were caught in a room at the hotel insulting a customer who had handed over US$13,000 (Rp 91 million) in cash to them after being tricked.
"The victim is an entrepreneur named Djamaluddin. Djamal had dreamt of making US$100,000 by giving the money to the Nigerians," Alex told reporters at city police.
Police issued a public warning last year over the rising numbers incidents of U.S. dollar swindles, allegedly perpetrated by foreigners targeting city residents desperate to make easy money.
Alex said the crooks placed authentic large denomination dollar bills at certain intervals, in wads of paper, dyed black.
"The Nigerians told me the black dye was to avoid attracting the attention of potential thieves," he said. "When trying to con someone they remove the original dollars from the pile and rub the dye off to show the real dollar note."
Djamaluddin told The Jakarta Post on Thursday that he was introduced by a colleague to two Nigerians, named Maurice and Alex, at Sheraton Media Hotel in Central Jakarta on Aug. 12.
"The Nigerians told me that they had 'black papers' worth US$ 1 million," Djamaluddin said.
"The two said they knew an Australian lady at the United Nations office here, who could sell them two liters of a chemical substance, used for converting the black papers to dollars."
"They said this was the way the U.S. government helped desperate countries like Indonesia to get instant money."
Maurice and Alex then told Djamaluddin to provide US$60,000 for the two-liter liquid. A few days later Djamaluddin returned with Rp 1.5 million, only for a small amount of the liquid.
"They washed off the black dye from the black paper with a liquid, which smelt like perfume. They told me to change the two $100 notes at Ayu Mas money changer in Kwitang, Central Jakarta. I had no problem cashing the money at the time," Djamaluddin said.
He later gave them $3,000 to procure more liquid.
"Instead, they came back to me one day, telling me that the money was used for the registration of the papers and the liquid tests.
"They came with a price list, with a U.S. Embassy stamp on it, that one gallon of the liquid costs US$150,000," he said.
He told them that he did not have the money.
A few days later, Alex told Djamaluddin that Maurice was taken hostage by the Australian lady.
"Alex said the lady wanted the money for the liquid Maurice had taken from her."
"I gave him another US$10,000. Don't ask how I came up with that. Alex took that money, gave me the cellular phone number of Daniel, his friend, and told me to contact Daniel," Djamaluddin said.
With several friends, Djamaluddin met Daniel and Mike at the Mercure hotel in West Jakarta on Tuesday, demanding Daniel to return the US$13,000 Alex and Maurice had taken from him.
"They got really fired up and started abusing me. That's when we called the police, and the Nigerians got arrested." (ylt)