(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-11-26 16:17

ABU DHABI-- Police of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has cracked a counterfeit money racket and seized more than six million fake US dollar bills, local newspaper Gulf News reported on Monday.

Police seized eight men and their equipment and chemicals to make fake dollar bills in a series of sting operations in Ras Al Khaimah, an emirate in the northern part of the country, the report said.

"The suspects, five Africans and three Arabs, were involved in illegal activities. ... They tried to sell their counterfeit money to their victims," Lieutenant Colonel Salem Bin Sultan Al Darmaki from Ras Al Khaimah Police was quoted as saying.

"We received a tip-off from one of our sources about some Africans involved in fraud and 'black magic' turning counterfeit dollars to real and selling them to clients with the help of some UAE residents," he added.

Three separate gangs were arrested in the operations. The first group of suspects were detained while delivering 1,000 fake dollar bills to one of the undercover agents.

An hour later a police team detained more suspects when they were delivering one million dollars in fake 100-dollar bills.

In the third operation, fake dollar bills worth more than five million dollars were seized.