Fake notes and Fake stories

The High Criminal Court has sentenced an expatriate couple along with two Asian men to three years in jail for using fake US dollars. The four convicted include a German man, his spouse a Belorussian woman as well as a Pakistani man and a Bangladeshi man. According to court details, the Belorussian woman was the first to get arrested while trying to buy some items from a major hypermarket using a $100 currency note. Further investigations led to the arrest of remaining convicts, except the Pakistani man.

While the Bangladeshi man claimed he was innocent and did no crime other than introducing the German to Pakistani, the German gave the court a different version. “The Bangladeshi and Pakistani men were partners in selling sweet water for almost two years. As my ex-girlfriend was in a financial trouble and had fake notes with her, I approached them to get it exchanged,” he told prosecutors. The pair allegedly visited many hypermarkets to use fake notes, but were caught at one of the places. The woman told prosecutors that she paid her bill in Bahraini dinars and it was her ex-boyfriend who took the money back from the cashier and paid fake dollars from his pocket. “Police suddenly arrived and arrested us.” A manager at one of the branches of the hypermarket turned witness and identified the German defendant. He said they were monitoring the couple after their suspicious moves and added that the couple used fake dollars for purchases at Bahrain Mall, Enma Mall and Gulfmart. The Pakistani man was sentenced in absentia as he remains at large after fleeing Bahrain.