Eleven village and district heads, as well as their staff in Bekasi, West Java, were named suspects in a conspiracy over the issuance of fake land certificates.

Segara Makmur village head, his staff as well as the Tarumajaya district head stood in line wearing orange prisoner uniforms at the Jakarta Police headquarters in South Jakarta on Wednesday.

The police's general crimes deputy director, Adj. Sr. Comr. Ade Ary, said that the officials had been accused of conspiracy with some other people in a Rp 23 billion (US$1.5 million) fake transaction of a 7,700-meter plot of land belonging to a resident, identified only by the initial L.

"This is a case of fake land documents, supplements of land ownership and sale contracts, which involved 11 suspects,” Ade as quoted by kompas.com.

The case started to emerge when L found out in 2014 that some people claimed they had purchased the land, backed with complete documents.

The false documents were officially recorded at Tarumajaya district administration. “So it looked like there had been a transaction,” Ade said.

The owner of the land reported the case to the police and showed the original certificate of the land.

"[Other than the case] the officials had also issued 163 deeds of sale and purchases [of lands and properties],” Ade said, adding that the police were still investigating the cases further to find any possible victims. "[The officials] have been with the authorities for more than a decade,” He added.  (stu)