Fake banknote producers busted
By Zheng Caixiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-05-22 06:22
GUANGZHOU: Police in Guangdong Province this weekend announced the smashing
of two fake banknote production bases, along with the seizure of more than 77
million (US$9.63 million) in counterfeit currency.
Ten suspects were arrested during the raids, which took place in the
provincial capital and Meizhou, a city in the east of the province. Also seized
was sophisticated equipment including computers, scanners and pattern plates.
"It is the largest fake banknote production crackdown in Guangdong Province
since the beginning of the year," said Xia Jiexiao, a police officer from
Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Public Security
Xia believed the crackdown has dealt a heavy blow to fake banknote production
and trafficking in the area, which borders Hong Kong and Macao special
administrative regions.
Despite the achievement, Guangdong police would keep up the fight against
fake banknotes trafficking and other economic crimes, added Xia.
Tan Shumei, a China Construction Bank worker in Guangzhou's Yuexiu District,
said the crackdown on the two fake money producers would help healthy financial
operations in the province.
"Fake banknotes have become an increasing problem for banks in Guangzhou in
recent years," she told China Daily yesterday.
The illegal operation in Guangzhou first became known at the beginning of the
year. City and provincial police forces launched a joint operation, and on May
17, after four months of surveillance, they swooped on an apartment in the
basement of a residential building. Fake notes worth 30 million yuan (US$3.75
million) were seized, along with five suspects.
After a similar surveillance operation, on April 25 this year more than 100
police raided a building in the city of Meizhou, capturing 47 million yuan
(US$5.88 million) and five suspects.
It is the first time such a case has occurred in the city.
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