Wife joins detained illegal banker

MAKASSAR, South Sulawesi: Police in South Sulawesi have detained the wife of a cooperatives head who had earlier been arrested for jointly operating an "illegal bank" in the province's capital of Makassar.

Nurjannah, a treasurer of the now-closed Serba Usaha Milik Bersama Cooperatives, had been declared a suspect along with her husband, H. Bustam, police said.

She was arrested on Tuesday night on charges of fraud and embezzlement relating to around Rp 3 billion collected from the cooperative's 2,000 customers.

South Sulawesi Chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani assured customers that they would get their deposits back despite the arrest of the two suspects.

"We detained the suspects for investigation and to avoid anarchy... If they can fulfill their promise to repay the customers' money, we will release them," he said. --Antara