East Java Tourism News

Missing passport misused by terrorist

April 15th, 2008

ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

Beware if important documents like your passports are missing. Who knows, they may fall into the hands of a terrorist group to be later misused for illicit activities. This was experienced by Deddy Achmadi Machdan, an international communications executive of major cigarette producer PT HM Sampoerna.

Deddy was questioned by a member of the National Police’s Anti-terror Detachment 88 because his missing passport was utilized by a member of a terrorist group.

The story starts back in 2003 when Deddy lost his passport in London. At the time Deddy was not aware that his backpack was open. His passport and a number of other important documents went missing.

“I only realized when I got back to my boarding house. I did not think anything more of it. What I knew was that my passport and other documents were lost,” he said in Pasuruan, East Java, earlier this month.

Deddy immediately went to the Indonesian Embassy in London to inform them about the missing documents and to ask for a replacement passport.

Time passed and Deddy forgot about the missing passport.

Suddenly there was phone call from Jakarta Police Headquarters. During the conversation, police officers questioned Deddy about his missing passport.

“As I didn’t know anything else, I just told them how I lost my passport in 2003,” Deddy said.

The police officers later explained the case involving Deddy’s passport. According to them, the passport had been misused by someone believed to be a member of a major terrorist network.

The man who misused Deddy’s passport and his accomplice, who is also believed to be a member of the terrorist network, have now been detained in a Malaysian penitentiary for questioning.

Deddy was startled to find out that two Indonesians had lost their passports in London on the same day, September 19, 2003.

“I never thought about someone intentionally stealing Indonesian passports,” he said.

“The man, who misused my passport, later claiming to be Achmadi Machdan’, and confessed to hail from Malang, East Java,” Deddy said.

As the police officers did not believe Deddy’s explanation, they requested to further investigate Deddy at his house. As Deddy believed he was not guilty, he agreed to the request.

On the second-floor verandah of his house in Jakarta, the police officers showed Deddy a photocopy of his missing passport, which had since been falsified. He told the police the name was his, but the address and photo were not.

The police officers also asked Deddy to show his replacement passport. He showed his passport along with remarks about his missing passport.

According to Deddy, the police officers freed him of any further investigation. If he was unable to produce a replacement passport, the case would have become longer.

The officers later asked Deddy if he was willing to testify as a witness if needed.

Source: The Jakarta Post

Entry Filed under: East Java News