Colombia’s law enforcement agencies have captured the alleged leader of a counterfeit money network and over $2 million dollars in fake bank notes.
William Augusto Duran, alias “Peter”, was arrested by special operatives from the Technical Investigation Team (CTI), a division of the Attorney General’s office, in the Nariño Sur neighbourhood of Bogota, newspaper El Espectador reported on Wednesday.
In Guisa’s house were found 365 million colombian pesos in fake notes ($188,000) and $2,040,000 in counterfeit 100-dollar bills. The CTI was tipped off about the house’s location by an informal source.
Colombia used to be the world’s top producer of fake dollars, responsible for some 43 percent of all counterfeit dollars, but was surpassed by Peru around 2009.
In June the CTI captured $3 million in fake dollar bills in Cali, southwest Colombia.
Crime website Insight Crime says that while counterfeit money is principally used by organized crime groups to fund their business activities, the counterfeit money networks are usually independent operations without ties to specific organizations.
Sources
- Capturan en Bogotá a hombre con más de 2 millones de dólares falsos (El Espectador)
- CTI incautó más de tres millones de dólares falsos en Cali (El Colombiano)
- Colombia Seizes $5 Million in Fake US Bills (Insight Crime)