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Dubai: Smuggling of counterfeit US dollars through Dubai has fallen to some extent, although it has not been completely eliminated, officials said.
Dubai Customs meanwhile confiscated $35,300 worth of forged notes and foiled an attempt to smuggle them into the country through Dubai International Airport yesterday, a statement said.
"The Customs inspectors suspected an African passenger arriving from Sri Lanka," the statement said.
"Upon the inspection of his suitcase, Customs officials found $35,300 of forged notes, in addition to a quantity of black and white paper notes matching the size of the dollar bills. The suspect and the confiscated money were transferred to the Public Prosecution," Dubai Customs said.
Dubai Customs earlier this month confiscated $25,000 in smuggled money of various currencies. Last year 13 instances of currency smuggling attempts were recorded.
Regional hub
Dubai is a regional hub for currency trading and cash is often brought here in bulk for trading in the open currency exchange market.
Many currency traders bring cash from countries where the export of bank-notes is prohibited and sell it on the UAE's open market for hard currency which is then remitted back in place of the restricted currency, bypassing the home country's tax system, market sources say.
In the late 1990s a number of West African, especially Nigerian and Russian gangs smuggled fake dollars into the UAE, which reached an alarming level at one point.
Fake currency operators also sometimes try to take advantage of the situation by mixing fake currencies with authentic cash.
This has been tackled well by UAE authorities.
"Some people still try to smuggle counterfeit notes through the UAE, but, due to strong regulations and tight vigilance, it has drastically come down," Dr. B.R. Shetty, managing director of UAE Exchange Centre, one of the UAE's largest remittance houses, told Gulf News.
"We have experienced some cases in the past where smugglers were trying to sell fake currencies. We managed to hand them over to the police.
"The extent of this has now reduced a lot, however, still happening."
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