A man was tracked to a ferry terminal and trying to buy goods with counterfeit cash. He bought items in a shopping centre worth £250 before trying to buy a £250 pair of trainers.
Security staff at the centre in Manchester became suspicious and used CCTV to follow his movements. They located his car registration plate on June 19.
Then, on July 2, the same car was seen on camera as it went into the Mersey Tunnel in Liverpool at around 5pm. The man paid cash for the toll, reports the Liverpool ECHO.
The car went on to drive around Wirral before entering the shipping port at Birkenhead. At that point, border and port police were informed that Greater Manchester Police were interested in the car and it was stopped before it could board the ferry to Belfast.
During a search of the vehicle, officers recovered two large batches of cash, along with designer clothes and high value items. The items were seized along with the vehicle for forensic recovery.
Some of the high-value items were believed to have been purchased from multiple retail outlets around the North West and paid for in cash and receipts kept concealed in a blue drinks pack were seized. The receipts all showed large transactions made in cash.
A 21-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of possessing counterfeit currency. He remained in police custody for questioning on Tuesday.
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Detective Inspector James Coles, of GMP’s Economic Crime Unit, said: "This is great proactive work from our officers, who have managed to remove suspected counterfeit cash from our streets. I’d like to thank the security staff at the shopping centre for their quick response in obtaining the registration plate of the man’s vehicle; this allowed us to track its movements, which ultimately led to the arrest.
“Using, distributing and creating fake bank notes is illegal and by seizing this cash, officers have been able to prevent it from being used to potentially fund further criminality within the community."
