Hong Kong police have arrested two men at a hotel after they seized more than HK$4.5 million (US$576,100) in fake HK$1,000 banknotes hidden in luggage.
A force spokesman said on Wednesday officers from the Kowloon West regional headquarters stopped and searched the two men at a hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui the day before and found 4,577 fake notes.
The two men, aged 37 and 43, were arrested on suspicion of possession of counterfeit notes
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The force said it would try to trace the source of the counterfeit cash and that the operation had taken the fakes out of circulation.
Officers from the same station, in a separate incident on Wednesday, arrested a 43-year-old man in Mong Kok for allegedly passing counterfeit banknotes.
Police said the man was believed to be connected to three recent cases in the area that involved the use of counterfeit HK$100 and HK$500 banknotes to pay for taxi fares.
A Facebook user last week said on social media that the driver of a green taxi handed her a counterfeit HK$500 banknote in change after she paid the fare from the Shenzhen Bay checkpoint to Sheung Shui’s Ching Ho Estate.
A man in May used four fake HK$500 notes to buy cigarettes and add value to his Alipay account.
Shop staff later noticed the identical serial numbers on the notes and contacted police.
Acting Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Joseph Chan Ho-lim said last month that police had seized a total of 10,191 counterfeit Hong Kong banknotes last year and 7,803 fakes between January and May this year.
He attributed the high figure so far for 2024 to the amount of counterfeit HK$1,000 and $500 notes seized in several fraud cases.
More from South China Morning Post:
- Hong Kong police seize counterfeit banknotes with face value of HK$2.55 million, advise public to be on alert
- Hong Kong customs arrests 3 beauty parlour staff suspected of using counterfeit skincare machines on clients
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