Fake foreign currency 'factory' busted

A team of detectives seize equipment used for making fake notes and arrest five persons, including two foreigners, inset, at a house in Niketon in the capital's Gulshan yesterday. Photo: Banglar Chokh

Detective Branch of police arrested five men, including two foreigners, from the capital's Gulshan on Friday and seized counterfeit foreign currencies and equipment used in its making from their possession.
The arrestees are Jinge Phillip Shifo, 35, of South Africa; Samzela Criss, 34, of Cameroon; and Bangladeshis Golam Kibria, 35, a resident of Dhanmondi; Yousuf Ali, 30, of Khilkhet; and Stephen Look, 40, of Mirpur.
DB Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Mashiur Rahman said the arrestees used to cheat former Bangladeshi expatriates, who returned to the country and were trying to migrate to countries offering better prospects.
During a raid in a Niketon house, US$ 45,800 and € 12,500 in counterfeit currencies, two laptops, one printer and some papers and chemicals used in making counterfeit currency were seized, he said.
Shifo and Criss, arriving around eight and four months ago respectively, rented the house for Tk 40,000 per month to produce counterfeit currencies, which the Bangladeshi trio used to sell.
Stephen, working as a manpower broker in Paltan, used to lure the expatriates. The gang recently cheated a Sylhet resident, who returned from London, of Tk 7 lakh, he said.
To lengthen their stay, the foreigners falsely stated that their passports were lost and applied for new ones and visas, added the ADC.