Johannesburg Metro Police Department on Wednesday, arrested a Nigerian man found in possession of a huge stash of fake money.

Michael Sun‚ MMC for Public Safety‚ said the suspect was arrested by the metro’s K9 unit and found with around R300‚000 in fake bank notes. Counterfeit notes in other currencies were also found.

The bust happened after a routine stop-and-search operation on Heidelberg Road‚ where officers spotted a suspicious-looking white Peugeot. While inspecting the car‚ the officers discovered a plastic bag containing a large amount of money.

The officers accompanied the suspect to his house in Allenspark‚ where they discovered a counterfeiting operation.

“The suspect was immediately arrested‚ and the counterfeit bank notes consisting of R300 000; US Dollars; Nigerian Naira; and a mini printing press and equipment were seized. This is the kind of criminal operation which hurts the economy of Johannesburg. Unsuspecting shops and small businesses would often lose out on making an honest living when fake money is used to pay them for their goods.” he said.

“This illegal operation has been taking place for a long time because we saw the cut-offs of a lot of paper in plastic bags which are in the room” he added.

The suspect is in police custody and will be charged with money laundering and possession of counterfeit money.

“The suspect is being detained by the police and will face serious criminal charges of money laundering and possession of counterfeit notes‚” Sun said.