In Cianjur, Husband And Wife Arrested By Police For Selling Fake Antigen-Free Letters

Head of Cianjur Police, West Java, Grand Commissioner Adjutant Mochamad Rifai (Photo: Ahmad Fikri/Antara)

JAKARTA - The Cianjur Police, West Java, arrested the husband and wife couple JA (32) and AR (30), the perpetrator of the forgery of the COVID-19 antigen-free certificate.

Head of Cianjur Police, Grand Commissioner Adjutant Mochamad Rifai in Cianjur on Tuesday, said the perpetrator JR had faked a COVID-19 antigen-free certificate after receiving an original sample letter from AR, his wife who works as an honorary employee at the Cianjur Health Service office.

The disclosure of a fake COVID-19 antigen-free certificate, after officers managed to catch MR, an illegal travel driver who argued that he had an antigen-free letter and after investigated it turned out to be fake.

"So we carried out development and it is known that MR got the letter from the suspect JA who lives in the Cianjur City area. The officers immediately carried out an arrest and searched the suspect's house, where hundreds of fake certificates were found," said Grand Commissioner Adjutant Mochamad Rifai, as quoted by Antara, Wednesday, May 5.

The suspect admitted that he had made many fake COVID-19 antigen-free certificates, most of which are ordered by illegal travel drivers at a price of Rp50,000 per sheet. So far, the suspect has received a sample of the original certificate issued by the Cianjur Health Office.

The sample of the original letter was obtained by JA through his wife AR who worked as an honorary employee of the Health Service, including a wet stamp belonging to the Cianjur Health Office, so that the suspect only had to edit the letter number and username of the fake certificate.

"The perpetrator has made a fake certificate since February with the number of more than 100 sheets, most of which were ordered by illegal travel drivers to launch the trip when there was an inspection by officers," he said.

The husband and wife couple, he added, had already been named a suspect while MR was still a witness. The two suspects will be charged under Article 263 of the Criminal Code and Article 268 of the Criminal Code with the threat of a sentence of 6 years in prison.

As reported by the Cianjur Police, a number of employees at the Cianjur Health Office are calling for information regarding the original but fake COVID-19 antigen-free letter signed by the relevant official.

The Head of Cianjur Police, Grand Commissioner Adjutant Mochamad Rifai in Cianjur, said that regarding the fake COVID-19 antigen-free certificate, his party had asked for information from a number of employees in related offices, even his party immediately summoned the Head of the Cianjur Health Service.