Counterfeiters Of PCR Letters 23 Students At Kendari Haluoleo Airport Arrested, Police Hunt For Other Perpetrators

Police show fake PCR certificate (Photo: ANTARA)

KENDARI - The Kendari Police, Southeast Sulawesi finally arrested a man suspected of falsifying the results of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for 23 passengers at Haluoleo Airport.

The passengers who wanted to fly to Jakarta on 20 August were finally canceled following the fake letter.

Kendari Police Chief, AKBP Didik Erfianto, said the perpetrator had the initials I (28) and was arrested on August 24 at a boarding house.

"We have named a suspect for the PCR forgery in connection with the failure of the departure of 23 prospective students who failed to leave for Jakarta on August 20", said Didik during the release of the case in Kendari, Antara, Thursday, August 27.

From the disclosure of the case, the police confiscated 23 printouts of the PCR test results which were allegedly fake, a stamp, and a mobile phone.

"The modus operandi of the suspect forged two signatures and a stamp on the letter. It was self-printed, self-signed, and self-stamped", he also said.

Didik said there might have been other suspects involved in the case.

The perpetrator is suspected of violating Article 263 paragraph 1 and Article 268 of the Criminal Code with a penalty of six years in prison.

The alleged case of falsification of the PCR test results was discovered when 23 passengers at Haluoleo Airport were about to fly to Jakarta on August 20.

However, when undergoing validation of health documents at the KKP counter, the results of the PCR test were allegedly false because they were not registered in the PeduliLindung account.

Based on these findings, the KKP who validated the documents directly contacted the Bahteramas Kendari Hospital. From the results of the coordination, it turned out that the 23 PCR test results were not registered at the hospital.