Russian Man Arrives In Belarus With Stacks Of Counterfeit US Dollars

This quality of “counterfeits” has never been seen in the country before.

A citizen of the Russian Federation, who arrived in the Republic of Belarus to purchase a car, was detained by police officers while exchanging currency in one of the bank branches in Slonim.

The man presented 306 $100 banknotes to exchange them for Belarusian rubles, which caused the cashier to doubt the authenticity.

The man explained to law enforcement officers that the funds were purchased from banking institutions on the territory of the Russian Federation and, in his opinion, are genuine, the State Committee for Social Security for the Hrodna Region reported.

During the inspection of several banknotes with the participation of a specialist from the Slonim interdistrict department, it was established that there were no regulated printing methods and elements (means) of protection characteristic of banknotes of the US Federal Reserve Monetary System, similar denominations and series (modification) years manufactured by the enterprise that carries out their production.

The Slonim district department of the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under Part 2 of Article 221 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus (production or storage or sale of counterfeit banknotes, coins, government or other securities in the official monetary unit of the Republic of Belarus, banknotes or securities in foreign currency in a particularly large amount).

Also, 393 $100 banknotes were additionally found and seized from the suspect.

All objects were sent for examination to the department of the State Forensic Expertise Committee for the Hrodna region.

Results of the examination

Based on the results of research conducted by a forensic expert, it was established that:

306 US Federal Reserve Banknotes totaling $30,600 were not manufactured by an enterprise that manufactures products of this type;

393 US Federal Reserve Banknotes totaling $39,300 were manufactured by an enterprise that produces this type of product.

It should be noted the high quality of manufacturing of these counterfeit US dollars; similar “counterfeits” have not previously been found on the territory of the Republic of Belarus.

The current capabilities of the State Forensic Examination Committee make it possible to determine not only the authenticity of banknotes, but also to establish the general source of origin, the technical means, equipment and materials used when making it.