LIMA, June 23 — A Peruvian man was detained by the US Secret Service and authorities in Lima on charges of printing millions of dollars in counterfeit US currency.
Police arrested Pedro Sosa Inca Casana, 42, on June 20 as he was getting out of a taxi with a pack of US$1.93 million (RM6.22 million) in fake bills, the Peruvian police’s criminal investigation division said in a statement.
They seized a total of US$4.5 million, a press, ink cartridges and other printing materials at a downtown Lima store that served as a front for the counterfeiting operation, police said. The US government sees Peru as a hotspot of counterfeiting.
The investigation is continuing, police said, declining to provide further details.
The Secret Service said that Casana had been under investigation since at least May.
The counterfeiting operation is typical of those discovered outside the US that involve sizable “counterfeiting mills” which churn out millions of fake bills, mostly US$100s. In the US, the majority of counterfeiting is done on home computers and printers.
The Secret Service has seized US$16.3 million in Peru and assisted in the arrests of 19 Peruvian citizens during the fiscal year ending September 30.
During that same time period, the Secret Service says it recovered US$71.5 million in fake currency overseas and US$84.5 million in the US.
“This investigation addresses the continuing economic threats to our country and illustrates how well established law enforcement networks work together to disrupt international organised crime each day,” US Secret Service Director Julia Pierson said in a statement. — Bloomberg
