Sharjah: Police have arrested an African man who allegedly had half-a-million dollars in fake currency notes in his possession, a Sharjah Police official said yesterday.
A senior police official told Gulf News that the discovery was made while police were arresting infiltrators and illegal residents.
He said police initially received a tip-off about a large number of men and women who lived together, in addition to being in the country illegally.
Police raided the apartment and found men and women, all Bangladeshi nationals, living together. Those arrested had either entered the country illegally or were absconders, he said.
"When police raided the apartment, we discovered that they were carrying out many illegal activities, such as human trafficking," said the police officer.
In one of the rooms at the apartment, he said police found half a million dollars in fake currency notes, in addition to blank notes, printers, computers and other devices used to forge money. The infiltrators who lived in the apartment informed police that it belonged to an African man who shared the apartment with them.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at Sharjah Police then set up a trap to arrest the suspect when he returned home.
The suspect was soon arrested along with a woman as they both entered the apartment. Police identified the two suspects of Cameroonian nationality.
During the interrogation, the African man allegedly confessed that the fake currency notes and the equipment belonged to him.
Both cases have been transferred to Sharjah Public Prosecution.
