[Nulgath]

While some members of the police are investigating FPI leader Habib Rizieq’s claims that the anti-counterfeiting system on the new rupiah bills are secretly communist logos (they aren’t), other police officers were busting a very real counterfeit money scheme in Taman Sari, West Jakarta, involving the circulation of fake US dollars.

"ZN, a citizen of Singapore, has been secured for exchanging counterfeit money at a money changer in the area of Taman Sari. ZN was arrested on December 14, 2016," said Taman Sari Police Chief Nasriadi during a press conference today as quoted by Detik.

After interrogating ZN, Taman Sari Metro Police arrested five others, all Indonesian, for their involvement in the counterfeit money scheme.

"From the suspects, we seized counterfeit dollars with a value of about $100,000 in 100 USD bill increments. We also seized printing equipment including computers, printers, cutting tools and printing tools," Nasriadi said.

Police say ZN was charged with distributing the fake $100 bills to money changers in Jakarta while the counterfeits were printed in Yogyakarta.
A money changer on Jalan Gajah Mada noticed one of their fake notes, which led police to begin their investigation.

Nasriadi said that the suspects are believed to have been creating counterfeit currency for quite some time, not just US dollars but other foreign currencies as well. Among the evidence they found was a flash disk containing high-quality data on Singaporean dollars, Brazilian real and others.

Police say they are still developing the case and hunting for other suspects. According to Nasriadi, they could all face up to 15 years in jail for their counterfeiting crimes.