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Visitor on trial for shopping with fake $100 bills

Dubai: A Nigerian visitor has been brought to trial in two criminal cases at least for allegedly going on a shopping spree with fake $100 bills, thus circulating fake currency.

The 25-year-old confessed in the interrogation that he intentionally picked cheap items to buy so he could get larger amounts in dirhams.

In one instance, he allegedly bought a box of colour pens and a gadget and collected Dh308 from the saleswoman. He has been charged with circulation of fake currency and fraud in the Court of First Instance.

The Filipina saleswoman said the accused paid $100 when buying a gadget and a box of colour pens from her shop located in a shopping centre in Al Rafaa and she returned him the change in dirhams.

“When I went to convert the $100 bill at an exchange outlet, I was told it was fake,” she said in the investigation.

A police sergeant said they tracked the accused after receiving several complaints from many shops in Bur Dubai that an African national had been buying items and paying fake $100 bills.

“We checked the surveillance footage of the shop and identified the suspect who paid with the fake bills,” said the sergeant.

The police issued a circular of arrest against the accused.

When the latter went to Al Rafaa police station on July 24 to recover his passport which had been seized in connection with a separate similar criminal case, he was apprehended.

He admitted in the interrogation that he made his purchases with fake $100 bills.

“He even confessed that he intentionally picked cheap items so that he could get larger amounts in Dirhams.”

In a separate criminal case, which is also being heard by the same court, the visitor is accused of buying a wallet worth Dh79 and getting Dh286 as change, after he paid with a fake $ 100 bill. It also happened on June 24 at a shop in the same shopping centre.

mary@khaleejtimes.com