Saudi, Egyptian jailed for exchanging fake Indian currency

Dubai, Oct 10 (UNI) A Saudi investor and his Egyptian accomplice, an engineer, have been jailed for exchanging fake 1.7 million Indian rupees through an exchange house in Deira, Dubai.

The Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced the 47-year-old Saudi investor, to six months in jail and awarded three months imprisonment to his 58-year-old Egyptian associate.

The Public Prosecution charged the duo with deceiving the exchange house and embezzling approximately 143,000 dirhams.

An exchange house employee told the court that the Egyptian associate came up to him, asking to convert Indian rupees into dirhams.

Court records said the employee changed Indian rupees to dirhams, amounting to 143,640 dirhams. The employee said at the hearing: ''I changed the Indian rupees to dirhams at another exchange house. The manager informed me that they were fake. I phoned and asked him (Egyptian engineer) to return 143,640 dirhams.'' The engineer returned 77,500 dirhams to the employee and promised to return the balance later. The employee informed the police who arrested the duo.

Huge amounts of fake Indian currency have been confiscated at Indian airports like Mumbai and Chennai from passengers from Gulf in the past one year.

UNI