Tengrinews.kz - The Financial Monitoring Agency (FMA) of Kazakhstan has reported a rise in cases of counterfeit foreign currency distribution.
Tengrinews.kz - The Financial Monitoring Agency (FMA) of Kazakhstan has reported a rise in cases of counterfeit foreign currency distribution.
In Almaty, authorities identified a group involved in circulating fake $100 bills. A search of a suspect's residence led to the discovery of 149 counterfeit bills totaling $14,900. The suspects have been detained, and a court has ordered their detention pending further investigation.
Another case occurred in the West Kazakhstan region, where local police uncovered a group suspected of using $25,000 and €10,000 in counterfeit currency to fund accounts at a lottery club in Uralsk. The suspect in this case is also being held in pre-trial detention.
According to Article 201 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Kazakhstan, further details cannot be disclosed.
Since the beginning of the year, authorities in Kazakhstan have confiscated 1,060 counterfeit banknotes, including 141 in the national currency worth 647,000 tenge, 905 U.S. dollar bills totaling $90,400, four €500 bills, and ten Chinese yuan bills worth 1,000 yuan.
"The total value of confiscated counterfeit bills exceeds 43 million tenge. So far this year, eight people have been convicted of producing and distributing counterfeit currency, with prison sentences ranging from five to six years," the statement said.
Earlier, a man who paid for several bouquets of flowers with souvenir banknotes was detained in Karaganda.