Story By: Lee Bullen, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

A man who ‘pawned’ his wife to a loan shark a year ago has been arrested for mistakenly killing the money lender’s doppelganger in a bid to get his partner back.

According to local media, 43-year-old Hori bin Suwari from the regency of Lumajang in the southern Indonesian province of East Java has been arrested for the murder of 34-year-old Muhammad Toha.

However, it is believed that Toha was the victim of mistaken identity.

Pictures Credit: AsiaWire

Reports said that the suspect borrowed 250 million IDR (13,820 GBP) from a 40-year-old man named Hartono and used his wife as collateral.

About a year later, the suspect reportedly attempted to pay back Hartono with some land in an attempt to reclaim his ‘pawned’ wife, but the loan shark refused and only wanted cash.

In response, the suspect allegedly decided to kill the money lender with a machete, but he reportedly ended up cutting down a lookalike instead.

Police spokesperson Hasan Cobra told local media: “The suspect confessed that the murder was premeditated so that his debt would disappear, as well as getting back his wife who he had pawned off.”

According to reports, the husband told cops that he mistook the victim, who apparently resembled Hartono, and now faces up to 20 years in prison for premeditated murder.