Sixteen Detained In Brunei Bogus Money Scam

Haji Sarbini bin Pehin Udana Khatib Haji Junit

Ali bin Awang Abuk Bakar

Sabli bin Tuming

Haji Abdul Salam bin Dollah

Razali bin Haji Kahan

Bandar Seri Begawan – Sixteen people, including 13 locals are now detained for their involvement in the smuggling, possession and distribution of counterfeited Brunei currencies to the public.

The Brunei Internal Security Department detained them under Section 3 (1) (a) Internal Security Act Chapter 133 in view of the seriousness of the offence which involved a large sum of counterfeited Brunei currencies.

The Internal Security Department assessed such activities as an attempt to sabotage the economic stability of the country.

The 13 locals, who were arrested and detained, are Haji Sarbini bin Pehin Udana Khatib Haji Junit, 54; Haji Bakar bin Bali, 36; Ibrahim bin Timbang, 50; Razali bin Haji Kahan, 54; Haji Abdul Salam bin Dollah, 48; Sabli bin Tuming, 46; Ali bin Awang Abuk Bakar, 42; Omar bin Haji Untong, 39; Juni bin Haji Garip, 39; Ghani bin Tamin, 65; Julaihi bin Aliasim @ Yasim, 49; Suhaimi bin Haji Kamis, 43; and, Pengiran Haji Abdul Rahman bin Pengiran Haji Zainal, 63.

Also detained were a Permanent Resident and two foreign nationals, Macky Paraji Hunang, 34, Filipino, and Alawin bin Budiman, 34, Malaysian. The Brunei Permanent Resident was identified as Sofri bin Dahali, 36.

engiran Haji Abdul Rahman bin Pengiran Haji Zainal

Suhaimi bin Haji Kamis

Julaihi bin Aliasim @ Yasim

Sofri bin Dahali

Alawin bin Budiman

Following thorough investigation, it was revealed that those detained had been actively involved in smuggling, possession, selling and distribution of counterfeited Brunei currencies through a number of syndicates since 2001.

It was also revealed that counterfeited Brunei currencies were printed and smuggled from abroad.

In the early stage of the investigation, the Royal Brunei Police Force confiscated the amount of B$542,350.

After further investigation, the Internal Security Department was able to trace and confiscate a total of B$241,200.

Macky Paraji Hunang

All the confiscated counterfeited Brunei currencies have the same serial numbers such as B$50 currency note with Serial no B/6 979505 issued in 1995, B$100 currency note with Serial no C/3 7377730 issued in 1995, B$500 currency note with Serial 429129 issued in 2000, and B$1,000 currency note with Serial no B/1 0750716 issued in 1998.

According to the Brunei Currency Board, it is important for the public to be aware of the security features of a genuine note and be able to distinguish it from counterfeited currency notes.

The counterfeited Brunei currencies that were confiscated by the security agencies were detected through several features. These features are:

- The absence of watermark of His Majesty Sultan of Brunei.

- The absence of the hologram showing the numerical value and letter “HB” in B$100 and B$500 notes.

- The windowed security thread in the B$100 and B$500 was manually drawn. The counterfeited notes were printed using low quality paper by means of a colour photocopy machine.

- Since these notes do not undergo intaglio printing process, it looks waxy, shiny and smooth when touched.

- Lines are not sharp and not well defined.

- The colours are uneven and some of them are very distinctively coloured.

Ibrahim bin Timbang

Omar bin Haji Untong

Juni bin Haji Garip

Haji Bakar bin Bali

Ghani bin Tamin

The Internal Security Department is reminding the public that any acts of printing, photocopying, smuggling, possessing, selling and distributing any counterfeited currency is against the law and those activities are assessed as attempts to jeopardise the country’s economic and security interest.

The Internal Security Department and other enforcement security agencies will not hesitate to take any actions on individuals or groups found to be involved in activities that are against any laws and regulations in the country.

His Majesty’s government wished to call for public cooperation in assisting security enforcement agencies in their attempts to eradicate any criminal activities that are prejudicial to the country’s security, peace and stability.

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