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ake $350,000 Seized As Police Smash Dollar Racket
- Details
- Published on Monday, 09 July 2007 00:24
The poor quality notes were wrapped in seven bundles each containing 500 notes in denominations of $100 dollars.Nandi police assisted by Flying Squad officers from Kapsabet arrested a Cameroonian and a Liberian and impounded printing machines, ink and chemicals from the suspects' hideout.
They said the notes were printed on "extremely poor quality" paper and had the same serial number. "The notes could only pass in the black market and would easily have been detected in urban shops or at banks," said a senior officer.
Detectives are preparing to involve Interpol in the investigations because of the two West African suspects and the American currency.Police pounced on the forgers after their attempt to swindle a Kapsabet timber dealer through a money-doubling trick failed.
Police from Nandi travelled to Kisii after the woman complained she had been conned of money yet the two were moving about freely in Kisii. She had reportedly tried to have the two, aged 25 and 30 years, arrested in vain.
She first gave them Sh3,000 when the two convinced her they could double money. Later she sold a piece of land at Sh100,000 and gave them the amount after they said they needed to buy chemicals for a money printing machine.
Police said the woman trusted the con men because they had "doubled" her Sh35,000 and paid back Sh70,000.But when she handed over Sh400,000, again expecting it to be multiplied, the men held on to it and started avoiding her. A quarrel broke out between her and her husband over the loss of the money.
When she pressed the conmen to return her money, they gave her a bundle of fake notes and exposed their printing racket.
Nandi police chief Alex Kamitu said the forgers had been operating since 2000. The counterfeit notes were packed in two carton boxes, each containing seven bundles of fake US$100 bills.
