RIYADH, 21 January 2008 — Special police have raided the hide-out of an expatriate gang involved in counterfeiting dollars and operating a brothel in a Riyadh neighborhood.

The gang operated from an expensive apartment in the Al-Suleimaniya district of the city. Police had been observing the apartment for about a month after receiving information about illegal activities going on there.

A security officer gave SR250 to an Asian expatriate in order to gain access to the brothel where erotic material was found. During the raid, police were discovered a workshop used for counterfeiting dollars.

According to a report carried by Al-Jazirah Arabic daily, security forces found 33 rolls of special paper used for forgery, $200,000 in counterfeit currencies, and 11 pieces of equipment used in the operation.

Police also uncovered documents explaining how to forge currencies, with descriptions of the sizes of dollar notes. They confiscated materials used for black magic from the African prostitute who was running the brothel.

The apartment had three rooms; two of them were used to counterfeit money and the third as a brothel. Police said that a number of different nationals visited the apartment.

Those arrested in the raid admitted that they had sold counterfeit bills worth $1 million for SR150,000. They also taught other expatriates how to forge currency, charging them SR1,500 monthly.

The gang has been in operation in Riyadh for the last three months and sold counterfeit dollars to people in hotels and shopping centers.

The Asian gang leader said he had rented the flat for SR18,000. The officers have handed over those arrested, including the prostitute, and the counterfeit dollar bills seized from the apartment to local police.

In a related development, police have arrested another gang of Asian expatriates involved in gambling and distributing pornographic videos.

They confiscated more than 20 videocassettes in addition to forged residential permits or iqamas.

Both operations were carried out under the leadership of Lt. Col. Eid Al-Otaibi, commander of special mission forces.