Expats accused of banknote counterfeiting

A Doha Criminal Court has been reviewing the case of an Italian and a British national accused of counterfeiting and attempting to circulate QR500 banknotes.  

Local Arabic daily Arrayah has reported that the defendants have denied any wrongdoing at their first hearing session and the case was postponed to hear from more witnesses. The issue started when an employee at an exchange centre suspected the banknotes submitted by one of the defendants, when he tried to exchange them for US dollars. According to the daily, the defendant submitted a sum of QR16,500, all in QR500 denomination, and wanted to exchange them for US dollars. But the employee in charge checked the banknotes and confirmed they were counterfeited and reported the issue to the police. When the man was arrested, his accomplice was arrested too and the tools used in the counterfeiting process were seized. The technical lab report confirmed that the notes in question were counterfeited in a very clumsy way that could be discovered by anyone. The case continues at the court.