'Cleaner had 200,000 in fake euros'

Cleaner, accused of possessing 200,000 forged Euro bills, fails to appear in court.

DUBAI // A cleaner accused of possessing 200,000 euros in forged bills failed to appear at the Dubai Criminal Court today.

MK, a 35-year-old from Bangladesh, was arrested in August after trying to exchange the fake notes for dirhams at the Dubai International Airport branch of Emirates NBD bank.

MM, a 37-year-old Filipina teller at the bank, said that at about 11am the Bangladeshi handed her what was supposedly 2,200 euros. "I immediately knew the bills were forged, the forgery was too obvious," she said.

She told her colleague who informed police and the man was arrested at the bank.

Prosecutors said they could not locate the cleaner, but it was not clear whether he had absconded.

The next hearing will be on May 20.