Routine shop-lifting arrest leads police to fake currency scam

A case of shop-lifting has led the Abu Dhabi police to arrest an engineer of an Arab nationality for running a counterfeit dirham scam.

Colonel Rashid Mohammed Borshid, Director of Criminal Investigation, Abu Dhabi Police, said the police received a complaint from a store that a shopper was found to have consumed cold-drinks in the store without paying for them and to have lifted packets of cigarettes.

The police were provided CCTV footage of the accused, MPP, 36, consuming the drinks and lifting the cigarettes.

The police then arrested the man. The total amount of goods he was accused of pilfering was Dh164.

Investigations and a medical check-up, however, showed that the man had swallowed some bank notes.

When he was held for shop-lifting the man had with him fake Dh100 notes. Realising that he would be found with them, before the police could arrive, he swallowed the notes.

A search of his home revealed a stash of fake currency.

Using his engineering background, he and his accused partner created fake currency which they would use to target new unsuspecting residents not familiar with the UAE currency.