Police catch money counterfeiters

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 07/02/2008 10:53 AM  |  City

Police arrested a Cameroon national who allegedly counterfeited money in Central Jakarta on Monday.

Eric Kuate, 40, who had been staying in Banyuwangi Sintera Hotel in Sawah Besar district, Central Jakarta, since March 10 last year, hid thousands of counterfeit bills and some unfinished ones in four trunks, two bags and a sack.

The man had counterfeited Rp 20 million (US$2.1 million) in the form of US$100 banknotes and 100-euro banknotes.

FAKE MONEY: Central Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Heru Winarko displays counterfeit US$100 bills and 100 euro bills worth a total of Rp 20 billion (US$2.2 million). (JP/Indah Setiawati)

Police also found some tools, including some bottles containing chemicals, two syringes and a calculator.

"We believe he's not working alone because so many banknotes were counterfeited," Central Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Heru Winarko said here Tuesday.

He said Kuate had regularly visited the country in the last six years.

"We are still investigating this case. We will question city police and prisoners convicted of the same crime to see whether Kuate has a network with them," he said.

Officers of the Provincial Anti-Narcotics Agency, the City Drug Agency, and immigration, who were involved with the arrest and investigation, were surprised to find the counterfeit money as they intended to arrest a drug dealer.

He said police were investigating whether the counterfeit money had something to do with drug dealing.

Sutrisno, a property businessman, reported the case to police.

"Kuate is one of the people who deceived me," Sutrisno said.

Sustrino said he had lost Rp 30 billion in the case.

He said he was approached by two Cameroonian men who called themselves Cyril and Arve while walking with his family near Pasar Baru in last December.

He said the two men called him later to make a deal with him involving constructing malls in the city. They asked him to show them a large amount of money in cash to prove he had the capital to work with them, and they would in turn show him their capital.

Sutrisno, who was looking to invest internationally, agreed to meet them again to show his Rp 7.4 billion in cash inside their car.

"After we showed our money, they asked me to talk outside the car. When I went home, it turned out they had swapped my money with their counterfeit bills," he said.

Sutrisno said some Cameroonians offered to help him recover his money, including a man who claimed he was from the treasury department at the American embassy.

"I only realized the money was counterfeit months later when I told my fellow businessmen about my experience and had the bills checked," he said.

Sutrisno said he dealt with the issue himself by going to Jl. Jaksa and some apartment buildings when the men often went, because he did not get a quick response from police after reporting his case in early March.

 

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