THE former police officer thought he was seeing a ghost.
In front of him at the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) building on Kallang Road was an Indonesian man he had arrested for passport forgery.
Jamaluddin Ikhwan, 45, was jailed and banned from entering Singapore after he finished his sentence.
Though that was nine years ago, Jamaluddin was not someone Mr Suresh Kumar could easily forget.
After all, Jamaluddin had once threatened to kill him.
But on 28 May, Jamaluddin appeared nervous and hid his face.
Said Mr Suresh, a former staff sergeant, 34: 'I thought I had seen a ghost. I remembered that he (Jamaluddin) was banned from entering Singapore for passport forgery.
'I was the one who put him behind bars for his crime. I couldn't forget him because he had threatened to kill me.'
He was arrested in 1998.
In February 1999, Jamaluddin then 37, was sentenced to 18 months' jail for selling forged passports.
A month earlier, Jamaluddin, was jailed six years for forging passports.
He was thought to be a mastermind of a forgery syndicate.
Mr Suresh was then the investigating officer assigned to the forgery case.
He spotted Jamaluddin taking a queue number at the visitor services centre on the fourth floor of the ICA building.
Mr Suresh, who is self-employed, said: 'I told myself that he won't be allowed to escape. Here is somebody who had been banned from Singapore and yet he is so bold as to appear at the ICA building. I had a feeling he was back to his old tricks.'
He alerted an ICA staff member and men from ICA's intelligence department soon arrived and spoke to Mr Suresh.
'They asked me whether I was sure that he was the right man. 'Could it be a mistake?' they asked me. I said there was no way I could forget his face,' said Mr Suresh.
He then pointed out Jamaluddin who was sitting in a corner near the applications counter.
'I was afraid that he might bolt or put up some resistance when confronted,' he said.
So Mr Suresh dashed towards Jamaluddin and grabbed him by his arms.
He asked the shocked Jamaluddin in Malay: 'Do you remember me? Are you Jamaluddin Ikhwan? You got a police case before?'
With six ICA officers surrounding him, Jamaluddin did not put up a struggle and coolly replied that he was not the person they thought he was, Mr Suresh said.
The ICA officers then took Jamaluddin to a room where his identity was screened. Mr Suresh was also present.
During questioning, Jamaluddin disclosed that he had once been detained by police here. But it was a case of mistaken identity, he told the officers.
Mr Suresh said: 'Suddenly Jamaluddin said, 'Oh I remember you... you're from Bedok police station. When I was detained in the past, they (the police) had mistakenly put me in prison and later let me off. You're making a big mistake'.
'In reality, he (Jamaluddin) was the one making the mistake thinking he would be able to fool the authorities.'
As in Jamaluddin's first arrest in 1998, he denied any wrongdoing, said Mr Suresh.
Jamaluddin was subsequently established to be a prohibited immigrant, said an ICA spokesman.
Mr Suresh said: 'I was determined to get him because in the past he had destroyed many people's lives.
'Jamaluddin made foreigners, who had bought his forged passports, believe that he was a genuine Singapore immigration official who could arrange for their stay and employment in Singapore.
'I did not want to see him con others again this time.'
source :
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/st...37077,00.html?
