Two drivers were arrested in Jembrana regency for allegedly forging antigen test results for their passengers, who the suspects charged IDR100,000 (US$7) each to illegally circumvent the travel requirement.
“[We] suspect that they used fake antigen test results to enter Bali and fool the officers,” Reza Pranata, who heads the criminal investigation unit at Jembrana Precinct, said.
Travelers must at least have already gotten their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to travel domestically in Indonesia, according to the latest iteration of the Enforcement of Restrictions on Public Activities (PPKM) protocol.
Police say they found a total of 43 passengers who were traveling on a bus and a minibus through Gilimanuk Port who presented fake antigen results. The passengers told authorities that they acquired those documents from the drivers, and had been charged IDR100,000 each.
One of the suspects, HK, said that he acquired the fake test results from a man identified as A, at IDR60,000 (US$4.20) each. The other suspect, YA, was in charge of collecting the passengers’ IDs that were meant to be sent to A.
HK said he paid A a total of IDR2.8 million (US$196) for 48 fake antigen test results, and eventually made about IDR1.8 million (US$126) in profit, which he shared with YA.
HK and YA were charged with violations of articles under the Criminal Code (KUHP) and the 1984 Law on Infectious Disease Outbreak, which could see them imprisoned for up to six years, if convicted.
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