Trader gets jail for bid to sell fake currency

Dubai: A merchant has been sentenced to six months in prison for trying to sell $5,000 (Dh18,360) in counterfeit currency.

The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted A.F., 39, an Egyptian national, of possessing fake dollars and a swindling attempt whereby he tried to sell the counterfeit notes for Dh10,000.

"I am not guilty," the accused maintained in court. "I possessed old dollars but I was not aware that the banknotes were counterfeited," he said.

According to the charge sheet, A.F. was found to be in possession of counterfeit currency and tried to circulate it in the market. He was also charged with a swindling attempt and trying to cheat Dubai Police of Dh10,000 for telling a policeman that he was ready to sell him the dollar notes for Dh10,000.

Additional charge

A.F. was additionally charged with possessing a taser gun without a licence.

"The court has referred the accused to the Dubai Misdemeanour Court where he will be prosecuted for possessing the taser gun," said Presiding Judge Maher Salama Al Mahdi.

A Yemeni policeman testified that an informant alerted them that A.F. was looking to sell the fake notes. "The informant told us that when A.F. failed to change the dollars to dirhams at a money exchange house, he decided to sell them for cheap. We arrested him in a sting operation," the policeman told prosecutors.