Trader in fake government docus and bills nabbed

CABANATUAN — Joint operatives from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) arrested a local businessman who was engaged in the printing of fake government documents and counterfeit P500 bills during a raid here Tuesday noon.

Pedro Roque Jr., NBI District Office chief, identified the suspect as Romeo Musni of Purok 2, del Pilar Extension, Barangay Sangitan here. The suspect was later locked up at the NBI District Office at the old capitol compound here.

Charges of violations of Article 166 of the Revised Penal Code (Forging Treasury or Bank notes, obligations and securities; Importing and Uttering false or forged note, obligations and securities) have been filed against Musni before the Office of the city Prosecutor. The raid resulted in the recovery of several fake, uncut P500 and P100 bills and other counterfeit official documents.

The operation was conducted by the NBI’s Anti-Fraud and Computer Crimes Division led by lawyer Elfren Meneses, the NBI Cabanatuan District Office and the BSP’s cash department on the strength of a search warrant issued by Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 28 Judge Tomas Talavera at Musni’s house in Sangitan.

Roque said the suspect was initially able to elude government operatives when the search warrant was served by the lawmen by sneaking through the backdoor of their house. But pursuing operatives caught up with him in the house of a neighbor. Roque said that in his haste to escape, the suspect left the computer in his house open, where fake certificates of live birth and several uncut bills were found. The BSP operatives later certified that the bills were indeed fake.