Hiiraan Online
Thursday October 11, 2018
MOGADISHU (HOL) - Somali police, working in conjunction with the intelligence have broken up a counterfeit money ring based in the Somali capital, the country’s intelligence announced on Thursday.
The bust took place after two men thought to be the kingpins of a network suspected of having been involved in manufacturing a counterfeit US currency notes during a covert operation at Aden Adde international airport as parts of ongoing investigations targeting criminals under the radar of security agencies, the agency said in a Twitter post.
The suspects are linked to an unnamed Somali lawmaker who is reported to be involved in the counterfeit notes manufacturing crime, the agency noted.
According to officials, police detectives have started pursuing sting operations targeting the criminal network earlier this year after notes allegedly manufactured by the gang have been found at foreign exchange markets across Mogadishu, leading to the arrest of the men who have secretly operated at the airport.
Late on Thursday, two other men linked to the network were also caught red-handed as they put the finishing touches to a new batch of forged notes after a tipoff by detectives that saw soldiers swooped into a property in Mogadishu.
Also found were money printing machines, cutters and chemical solutions used for cleaning black dollar notes.
The suspects are expected to be arraigned at a magistrate court, according to sources as prosecutors were working to gather evidence to press charges against them.
Somali government says it’s trying to root out organized crimes including counterfeit currency manufacturing networks and corruption to speed up its bid to make Somalia free of corruption, a major task for a country which for over a decade topped the world’s most corrupt states index.