Two fraudsters have been sentenced to three and six years in jail respectively, and each fined Dh200,000 for promoting counterfeit currency notes in the UAE.
The Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance handed the jail terms to the Asian men after they were found guilty of possessing counterfeit currencies.
Official court documents stated that one of the men, the main accused in the case, had fled the country after his accomplice – the second defendant – was arrested while exchanging the fake Euro notes at a money exchange shop in Abu Dhabi.
The man had brought fake Euro currency into the UAE. He gave 1,000 Euros to his aide to have it exchanged to dirhams at a money exchange shop. The cashier handed over Dh41,000 to him in exchange for the fake Euros. But after realising they were counterfeit, the management informed the police, who rushed there and arrested him.
When the main accused learned that his accomplice had been nabbed, he hurried to buy an air ticket back home and fled the country that very day.
The Asian, however, returned to the UAE 20 days later when his aide, who cooperated with the police, lured him into coming back. He told him that he had been released by the cops after settling all the issues and that the case had been closed. On arriving at the airport, the man was arrested and referred to the public prosecution.
Both men were charged with possessing and promoting fake foreign currencies in the UAE.
The man who fled the country was given six years in jail while his accomplice was jailed for three years after they were both found guilty of the charges. The court also fined each of the men Dh200,000 and ordered their deportation after serving their jail sentences.
