12 arrested for forging $2 M

12 people, reportedly members of a gang, have been arrested on suspicion of forging and distributing $2 million, Info-Prim Neo reports. Chisinau police commissar Vladimir Botnari told a news conference on July 22 that four suspects had been policemen. The Stepuleac brothers are among the arrested, and they had been previously halted up for allegedly organizing the April 7 protests. Two suspects come from the Transnistrian area. The leader of the gang has criminal antecedents, and in 2005 he was accused of the same offense. He is a former employee of the Moldovan Science Academy. “On July 21, the police seized 2 million fake dollars and materials to counterfeit $20 million. $1.2 million were seized at the villa of the main suspect. Following searches in Cantemir, Briceni, Orhei, Balti, Chisinau and Sangera, the police discovered some $800,000 more,” said the general commissar. The fake bills are hard to detect by free sight. The police also seized documents, equipment to manufacture bills, weapons and ammunition used by the group. “We have information that $2 million were sent to Romania through an envoy. Parts of the fake bills reached Russia. The police supposes there would be 20 million dollars more in Ukraine,” Vladimir Botnari said. The Moldovan police cooperates with counterparts from the CIS and the EU to seize the entire network. If found guilty, the arrested may get up to 15 years in prison.