Police in Singapore and Indonesia have crippled a transnational counterfeit currency syndicate, which led to the arrest of four Indonesians.
The four men, aged between 39 and 51, were arrested in a raid in Riau province between Nov 15 and 20 last year.
The Singapore Police Force (SPF) said they were alerted on Sept 21 last year to an Indonesian couple who presented a counterfeit $10,000 note at a casino in Singapore. They had allegedly tried to exchange it for casino chips to gamble.
After being told the note was counterfeit, the man produced a second $10,000 note for verification. The second note also turned out to be fake.
Investigations revealed that the couple had travelled to Singapore from Batam, Indonesia, and that the two notes were received from their business associate in Batam as payment for a business transaction.
Indonesian police then conducted three separate raids in Riau and West Java provinces, leading to the arrest of three suspects – aged 39 to 48 – for their alleged involvement in the counterfeiting of banknotes and distribution of counterfeit banknotes.
The fourth suspect, a 51-year-old Indonesian man, was identified and arrested later.
A total of 390 suspected counterfeit $10,000 banknotes were seized.
SPF, in consultation with the Attorney-General’s Chambers, has taken no further action against the Indonesian couple, as there was insufficient evidence to suggest that they were aware the notes they had were fake.
The Straits Times
