Four held with 4.7 million in fake Indian rupee notes

A gang of four Asian men has been arrested in Dubai for trying to exchange more than 4.7 million Indian rupees into dirhams.

DUBAI // The police have arrested four men suspected of trying to exchange more than 4.7 million counterfeit Indian rupees into dirhams.

Maj Gen Khalil Al Mansouri of Dubai CID said that the Asian suspects, all in their 30s, were identified as S N, M A, M F and A R. Three of them were residents of Dubai.

“Police seized 4,727,000 Indian rupees that were in 1,000 fake bills,” Maj Gen Al Mansouri said.

“The suspects approached a businessman telling him that they wanted to buy food products but they only had Indian rupees.

“The suspects dropped the issue of the food products and said they were willing to exchange the money for Dh140,000, an amount that is less than what 4.7 million Indian rupees should be exchanged for.”

If genuine, the rupees would be worth Dh285,000.

Gen Al Mansouri said the case had been referred to public prosecution.

“The suspects gave the businessman a few notes so that he could personally check for authenticity by trying to exchange them himself,” he said.

Gen Al Mansouri said the businessman notified the authorities that there was a group of people that might be trying to scam him.

“The money was almost perfect. Any normal person can be fooled by it. Even exchange centres could have been tricked into thinking they were real.

“We met with the businessman, who agreed to exchange the currency in the Nayef area.

“Once the exchange was made, the suspects were arrested. The suspects admitted that the money was fake.”