BURI RAM: Police arrested a man, 53, for allegedly supplying fake US dollar bills with a total value equivalent to 2.8 million baht in this northeastern province.
Pol Maj Gen Montree Theskhan, commander of the Crime Suppression Division, said on Sunday that Panya Onnuan was arrested at a house in tambon Non Din Daeng of Non Din Daeng district on Saturday.
He was charged with possessing fake foreign money and illegally having 18 bullets.
According to the CSD commander, Mr Panya was wanted under an arrest warrant that a local court issued on Jan 19 for having fake currency.
Police suspected him of supplying 790 US$100 banknotes altogether worth about 2.8 million baht to plainclothes police in a sting operation at a petrol station in Non Din Daeng on Jan 17.
On that day, Mr Panya allegedly had two other men deliver the fake banknotes to plainclothes police. When the two accomplices were arrested, he escaped in his car.
The two previously arrested suspects fingered Mr Panya as the owner of the fake banknotes. Police earlier believed Mr Panya was hiding in Buri Ram, a province that borders Cambodia.
After his arrest on Saturday, Mr Panya denied the money forgery charge. However, police found 18 bullets with him and he was thus charged additionally with illegally possessing the ammunition.
Police also found a .38-callibre pistol with him but the firearm was registered.