Police Foil Large-Scale Somaliland & Ethiopian Counterfeit Currency Operation

Hargeysa, Somaliland, March 1, 2008 (SL Times) – Five men who were arrested by the Somaliland police last month in connection with an attempt to print fake Somaliland Shillings and Ethiopian Birr, are expected to go on trial next month.

The full identities of the five men were not disclosed except that all of them were Somalilanders who have been members of a Bossaso-trained gang that specialised in fabricating false Somalia bank notes.

The gang was planning to forge Somaliland and Ethiopian currency notes in a large scale operation before being arrested in Hargeysa.

A sixth man originally suspected of involvement in the attempt to forge counterfeit money was later released due to lack of evidence.

Police authorities in both Somaliland and Ethiopia were understood to have closely collaborated in uncovering the money falsification plot.

However the gang’s Ethiopian-born leader was still at large. Until recently the printing of fake money was confined to Puntland where other illegal activities such as human trafficking, drug smuggling, piracy and kidnapping of foreigners for ransom are not only rampant but also condoned and protected by the authorities there.

Source: Somaliland Times