Man allegedly cut printouts of currency notes as part of purported counterfeit conspiracy

Dominic Low
The Straits Times
Jul 7, 2021

A man who allegedly cut printouts of currency notes, as part of a purported conspiracy to counterfeit such notes, was charged in court on Wednesday (July 7).

Mahadi Ab Latif, 44, faces one count of conspiring with a Muhammad Farhan Farus to counterfeit currency notes. Mahadi is said to have cut the printouts in a van in June this year.

Farhan was charged last Saturday with one count of using a counterfeit note to buy sex enhancement pills in Geylang.

Mahadi was among three men arrested on Sunday for allegedly conspiring to use counterfeit notes.

Counterfeit $100 "portrait series" notes amounting to $17,500 were seized from Mahadi and a 27-year-old man, who is assisting in police investigations.

Portrait series banknotes were first released in 1999 and are currently in circulation.

The third man, aged 63, was arrested after the police received a report that he allegedly used a counterfeit $100 note to buy a lottery ticket in Ubi Road.

The police said in a statement on Tuesday that another counterfeit note and drug-related paraphernalia were found on him. He is also assisting in police investigations.

It is unclear if Mahadi and the other two men know one another.

Mahadi's case will be heard again on July 14. If convicted of his offence, he can be jailed for up to 20 years and fined.