Dumaguete cops nab man for fake British pound bills

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines  â€” The City Police have uncovered efforts to circulate fake England pound bills with the arrest of a male scavenger at the city’s dumpsite in barangay Candau-ay.

The suspect, 41-year-old scavenger Roger Bardelosa, married and resident of Mother Rita housing project in Candau-ay, claimed that while sorting for recyclable materials he found the 20 pieces of 20 British pound bills placed in an envelope.

Last Monday (April 1), he took some of these to the so-called black market and successfully converted three of the foreign bills into pesos, victimizing in the process two money changers: Henry Estrella, 55, resident of Brgy. Tinago in this city, and Lilibeth Jain, 45, of Brgy. Campaclan in Sibulan town.

Not knowing that the money changers were already alarmed of the circulation of the fake British pound bills, Bardelosa returned yesterday supposedly to have some more bills exchanged by a third buyer, a certain Crispin Barrera.

After comparing the bills given to Barrera with those already in the possession of Estrella and Jain, it was found out that they were perfectly the same, which resulted in the apprehension of the suspect by the police.

At the police station, Bardelosa insisted that he was innocent, contending that he would not have come back only to be arrested by the police.

Superintendent James Goforth, Dumaguete City Police chief, immediately sent copies of the British pound bills to a local bank to determine their authenticity.

Bank officials noted that the fake bills were smooth, and the crown of Queen Elizabeth and the image in the water marks were hardly identifiable and visible. They added that most of the bills recovered from the suspect have only two serial numbers, BB 14838880 and BB 14738880.

Goforth said the police are now digging deeper into the circulation of fake foreign currency in Dumaguete, and possibly throughout the province.

Appropriate charges are being readied against Bardelosa who also operates a shredder machine at the dumpsite, working on shifts that changes every three months. (FREEMAN)