DUBAI // A man who tried to smuggle almost five million fake Russian rubles into the country had his two-year jail sentence upheld by the Appeals Court today.
KM, 29, was caught after trying to exchange 100,000 of the rubles through Al Ansari exchange house in Riqqa on June 7 last year.
The Egyptian accountant he approached immediately became suspicious.
"We were warned the same day to check the money notes well because a Syrian man had tried to changed fake notes that day," recalled the accountant WA, 27, who realised the notes were fake and called his supervisor.
Police said the man confessed, saying that he and another man smuggled the fake roubles through Dubai International Airport by taping the money to their legs. Officers also found a suitcase filled with the fake currency.
At his trial at the Criminal Court the man pleaded not guilty, but was convicted and fined Dh10,000 in addition to the jail sentence.
The Appeals Court upheld the verdict as well as a deportation order.
salamir@thenational.ae
