KOTA KINABALU, Aug 8 — Police arrested an Indonesian man in Tawau who was in possession of RM10.5 million in counterfeit Brazilian real.

Sabah deputy police commissioner Datuk Zaini Jass told reporters that a team from the district headquarters, acting on information received, arrested the 27-year-old suspect last Monday at about 4pm at the Tawau jetty, heading for Nunukan, Indonesia.

"The suspect was carrying a bag containing about 1,000 notes of what looked like R$10,000 that he had intended to sell to someone else but the transaction did not materialise,” he said at a press conference today.

The face value of the counterfeits was RM10.5 million at the current exchange rates.

Zaini said that the counterfeits were of high quality and could easily be passed off as genuine, adding that the Brazilian embassy has been asked to assist in verifying this.

"According to the suspect, he got the currency from another Indonesian known only as ‘Arif’ from Surabaya, Indonesia,” said Zaini adding that the police were investigating other possible accomplices in the case.

The suspect has been remanded for four days from August 6 to assist the investigation under Section 489C of the Penal Code for counterfeiting.