BURI RAM: Police have arrested two men with fake US dollar banknotes with a combined denomination value equivalent to 2.8 million baht.
Achiratorn Wongchaosirirak, 51, and Somsak Makpoon, 61, were caught in a sting operation at a PTT petrol station in Non Din Daeng district on Tuesday, said Pol Maj Gen Montree Theskhan, commander of the Crime Suppression Division.
Police were following up on a LINE chat group that was offering fake US banknotes for sale. Detectives set up a sting by ordering 800 hundred-dollar bills (face value $80,000 or 2.8 million baht). They were quoted a price of 200,000 baht ($5,625).
The two suspects were arrested while delivering the fake banknotes to plainclothes police. They said they were only brokers, and that the bills actually belonged to another man identified only as Panya.
Mr Panya also arrived at the petrol station but stayed in his car. He fled the scene when police arrested the two accomplices, Pol Maj Gen Montree said.