A criminal court here is hearing a case in which 11 Arab expatriates are accused of circulating fake Qatari currency. An official from a law-enforcement agency told the court during cross-examination late last week the quality of the QR500 fake currency notes was so bad it was easy to tell the difference between them and genuine bills. From the serial numbers of the notes themselves it could be said they were fake since the numbers were printed shabbily. The witness, from the economic crimes prevention department at the interior ministry, was responsible for catching the accused. They were arrested following a tip-off while some of them were in Al Gharrafa market. The law-enforcement agency also got hold of a fake currency bill as proof. A search warrant was procured from the Public Prosecution and search on their hideout led to confiscation of 92 fake QR500 bills worth QR46,000. The notes were recovered from the pocket of abandoned trousers lying in the room where some of the accused stayed. The head of the three-member panel of judges, Mamoun Hamour, showed the witness a box containing the fake notes and asked him if these were the notes he had seized. The police officer replied in the affirmative. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=October2009&file=Local_News20091018233614.xml

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