Two nabbed over smartphone purchase using fake money

BAGAN SERAI: Police detained two men who allegedly purchased a smartphone using self-printed counterfeit notes here, last Monday.
Kerian District Police chief Supt Omar Bakhtiar Yaacob said the suspects, aged 26 and 36, had gone to a shop in Jalan Pasar here to buy a Huawei smartphone which was priced at RM600.
"After the suspects had left the premises, the shop worker suspected that the four RM100 notes he received were fakes ones as they had the same serial number. Subsequently, the worker notified his employer, who later alerted the police in the area.
"The police then managed to detect and arrest the suspects who were still in the area … They were too engrossed to sell the phone at another premises owned by the same owner," he told a press conference at the Kerian District Police headquarters here today.
Omar Bakhtiar said upon inspection, police found six smartphones of various brands, two laptops and six bottles of chemical believed to be used in the printing of fake money.
Further checks at a homestay in Taiping, where the suspects had stayed two days before that, led to the discovery of 36 fake RM100 notes and other printing tools.
Omar Bakhtiar said the suspects admitted to moving from one place to another since last year as part of their modus operandi, and that they could print out up to 2,000 pieces of counterfeit money a day.
Both the suspects, who have criminal records, were being remanded for seven days until Sunday to facilitate investigations under Section 489B of the Penal Code, he added.
Meanwhile, Omar Bakhtiar said the Kerian Narcotics CID Division detained five men and seized 96.35g of methamphetamine worth RM13,580 in three raids in Alor Pongsu and Parit Buntar yesterday.
All the suspects, aged in their 30s and 40s, had criminal records and tested positive for methamphetamine, he said.
Omar Bakhtiar said the men were being remanded for seven days beginning today to facilitate investigations under Sections 39A(1), 39A(2) and 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952. — Bernama