Intensive security tightening to crack down on counterfeiters of banknotes

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[size=52]Intensive security tightening to crack down on counterfeiters of banknotes[/size]

[size=45]Baghdad / Hussein Hatem[/size]
[size=45]The Ministry of the Interior has tightened its security measures to clamp down on currency counterfeiters and exchange rate manipulators, through inspection tours and intelligence efforts accompanied by complaints from those exposed to “fraud” by counterfeiters.[/size]
[size=45]And a video clip circulated on social media, and viewed by (Al-Mada), showed a shop owner reviewing counterfeit coins of 25,000 dinars, who confirmed that these coins cannot be detected at all except through a money-counting device, while indicating that large quantities were passed in his shop without being discovered by anyone.[/size]
[size=45]“The Ministry of Interior, through the General Directorate for Crime Prevention, closely monitors currencies in the local markets and pursues counterfeiters and manipulators,” said Major General Khalid al-Muhanna, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, in an interview with Al-Mada.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Muhanna added, "The Anti-Crime Directorate assumes responsibility for combating counterfeiting of cash currencies."[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that "detachments of the Ministry of Interior manage from time to time to arrest a group of counterfeit currency traffickers."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Muhanna explained, “The arrests are made through information and intelligence sources of the ministry’s cadres, in addition to the complaints of citizens who are exposed to cases of fraud through counterfeit currency.”[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that "the work of the Anti-Crime Directorate resulted in the seizure of large amounts of money," noting that "the purpose of pumping counterfeit currencies into the markets is profit at the expense of the simple citizen."[/size]
[size=45]In turn, Ali Al-Tamimi, a researcher in legal affairs, says, in a statement received by (Al-Mada), that “Article 280 of the Iraqi Penal Code punishes with imprisonment for a period not exceeding 10 years whoever counterfeits or forges, whether by himself or through others, a coin of gold or silver.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Tamimi added, “Article 282 increases life imprisonment if this crime leads to a drop in the price of the national currency or destabilizes transactions in the internal markets, or the crime is committed by a gang of no less than three people.”[/size]
[size=45]And he continued, “Article 283 punishes with imprisonment and a fine, or one of them, for anyone who promotes or re-deals in counterfeit currency knowing that it is counterfeit. As for the punishment of whoever caught in good faith counterfeit currency with his knowledge of it and then dealt with it, then his punishment is imprisonment according to Article 284 of the Iraqi Penal Code and imitation.” For currency means making a false thing that resembles a true thing.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Tamimi indicated that, as for “the meaning of forgery, it is changing the truth with the intention of cheating in a specific document to harm the public or private interest.”[/size]
[size=45]At the beginning of this week, a force from the National Security Agency arrested a currency counterfeiter who was in possession of three hundred thousand counterfeit dollars in western Nineveh.[/size]
[size=45]The agency stated in a statement received by (Al-Mada) that “the accused is practicing the process of counterfeiting money and was arrested red-handed while selling counterfeit dollars, as his statements were duly recorded and referred with the seized items to the competent judicial authorities.”[/size]
[size=45]Earlier last week, the Ministry of Interior announced that the border forces had arrested a foreign traveler in possession of ten thousand counterfeit dollars in Basra Governorate.[/size]
[size=45]The ministry stated, in a statement received by (Al-Mada), that “the detachments of the Kamrak al-Shalamjah police station affiliated to the Directorate of Kamrak, the fourth region in Basra governorate, were able to arrest a foreign traveler in possession of a forged amount of money amounting to (ten thousand dollars) in the category of (100) dollars that he was intending to enter to Iraq".[/size]
[size=45]And the statement continued: “A fundamental record was organized, and the necessary legal measures were taken against the accused, and he was referred to the competent authority, in preparation for his presentation before the court.”[/size]
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