Greater Jakarta: Jatinegara man passed funny money: Cops
JAKARTA: Police say they have arrested a man for allegedly using counterfeit rupiah banknotes to by a cell phone from a kiosk on Jl. Bekasi Barat Raya on Monday.
Jatinegara police precinct detective unit chief First Insp. Ambarita said that the suspect, Podo Wiyoto, 26, bought the cell phone for Rp 400,000 (US$42) and paid the kiosk owner with Rp 100,000 bills. Suspecting the money was fake, the owner reported Podo to the police.
“From the suspect, we confiscated 174 sheets of the fake bills,” Ambarita said.
Podo, a construction worker, told investigators that he found the money unattended on the road and that the cell phone was his first purchase with the funny money, according to the police.
“He deliberately went shopping around 1 a.m. in a hopes that the vendor would not realize that it was counterfeit money,” Ambarita said.
Podo was charged under Article 245 of the Criminal Code on the possession and distribution of counterfeit money and faces 15 year’s imprisonment if convicted.
26 May 2013, 11:53 pm
