With medical certificates being a requirement to travel in Indonesia amid the COVID-19 pandemic, two men in Bali allegedly sought to gain profit by forging fake ones for IDR50,000 (US$3.39) apiece.
Police have arrested the two suspects, identified as DH and OS, and said that they have been marketing their services online via Facebook since late September.
“The certificates they sold successfully permitted customers to travel to Java island,” South Denpasar sub precinct chief, Citra Fatwa Rahmadani, said.
In Indonesia, those traveling on airplanes are required to present the negative result from a PCR (swab) test, while other means of travel only require travelers to present “non-reactive” results from a rapid test. Police say DH and OS were selling the latter, with the former in charge of marketing it online, and the latter tasked with creating the fake certificates using Photoshop.
Authorities say they managed to sell three certificates before they were caught.
The two suspects have been charged with violation of articles from Indonesia’s criminal code on document forgery, which carries a maximum sentence of six years.
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