Two mainlanders were arrested on Monday for possessing 98 counterfeit US$100 banknotes and trying to exchange them for chips in two casinos in Zape, a Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesperson said during a regular press conference on Wednesday.
The spokesperson said the two suspects are a 33-year-old mainland man surnamed Yang, who told the police that he is a businessman, and a 41-year-old mainland woman surnamed Wu, who told the police that she is jobless and the male suspect’s friend.
The spokesperson said that Yang attempted to buy gaming chips with the bogus US$100 notes at a casino in Zape early Monday morning. The staff there found the banknotes suspicious, therefore refused to exchange them for chips.
After that, the man went to another casino in Zape together with the female suspect to try to buy gaming chips there, but the staff in that casino discovered that the banknotes were bogus and therefore reported the case to the police.
The male suspect told the police that he had brought the fake US dollars to Macau in order to commit the crime, according to the spokesperson, who did not name either casino.
The spokesperson pointed out that the imitation of the counterfeit banknotes involved in the case is very poor and, consequently, easy to detect.
The suspects have been transferred to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) for further investigation and possible arraignment for attempting to put counterfeit currency into circulation.
