INDONESIAN MAN JAILED THREE YEARS FOR POSSESSING COUNTERFEIT BANKNOTES

KUCHING, Nov 17 (Bernama) -- An Indonesian man was sentenced to three years’ jail by the Sessions Court here today for possessing counterfeit banknotes totalling RM138,920 last month.

Judge Musli Abdul Hamid handed down the sentence after Hendra, 32, pleaded guilty to the charge, with the jail term to commence today.

Hendra was charged with possessing 1,200 counterfeit RM100 notes, 240 counterfeit RM50 notes, 296 counterfeit RM20 notes, and 100 counterfeit RM10 notes with the intent to use them as genuine currency.

The offence was committed at a location along Jalan Tebedu-Serian, Serian, at about 4.45 pm on Oct 8.

The charge was framed under Section 489C of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum jail term of 10 years upon conviction.

According to case facts, on the day of the incident, a team from the General Operations Force Battalion 23 detained two foreign men riding a motorcycle suspiciously by the roadside, believed to have recently entered Sarawak via the Tebedu-Entikong border.

Upon questioning, they led security forces to another individual, Hendra, not far from the first location, which resulted in the discovery of the counterfeit banknotes.

Authorities also detained a woman in connection with the case, bringing the total number of arrests to four. Investigations revealed that the suspects possessed various denominations of counterfeit Malaysian Ringgit banknotes amounting to RM138,920.

On Oct 15, an Indonesian man and woman, Wawan Riduanto, 31, and Emi Diansari, 37, were each sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for the same offence by the same court.

They were jointly charged with another man, local citizen Abang Firdaus Abang Abdul Malek, 29, who pleaded not guilty to committing the same offence.

Abang Mohammad Firdaus, a delivery driver, was granted bail of RM20,000 by the court.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Asmawi Nur Haqim Mokhtar appeared for the prosecution.

--BERNAMA