JEDDAH, 22 February - Police in Jeddah have arrested a gang of Africans involved in swindling and forgery. The three-member gang cheated Saudis as well as pilgrims by supplying them with fake dollars.
In a statement yesterday, the Interior Ministry warned the public, especially pilgrims, against such charlatans, who exploit the innocence of the pilgrims during the Haj season. The gang, including a woman, lured their victims with a unique modus operandi claiming they could produce US dollars by using chemicals. The authorities rounded up the gang after closely monitoring their activities.
The police sent in a plainclothes man as a decoy, who met the gang at an arranged area. The three were arrested while they were showing the plainclothesman the trick to mint dollars, the agency said. The ministry said the gang cheated the public by displaying two original $100 notes on both sides of a bundle of fake paper notes.
"They told their victims that they would be able to change all the papers into dollars using the chemicals they were marketing, and they sold these chemicals for exorbitant amounts," the ministry said. After raking in a good sum, the gang would then shift their scene of action.
The three, it was later revealed, are overstayers. Police have confiscated the materials used by the gang to deceive the people from the room they had rented.
