Teller helps crack $5M forgery ring

Press, 13 January 1982, Page 1

Teller helps crack $5M forgery ring

PA Auckland Two Auckland bank tellers and a policeman have helped crack an international forgery ring which is reported to have reaped about $5 million in many parts of the world in the ’ last two or three vears.

Teleprinters .at Police Headquarters in Wellington were busy much of yesterday with messages from overseas forces after the arrest on Monday night of three Thai men.

Auckland detectives said it appeared that the arrests ended the work of a vast forgery ring which had illegally procured about $5 million in several countries since 1979.

Investigations were being made, last evening through Interpol in many countries, including Australia and Thailand.

Auckland detectives were also handling inquiries from Hong Kong and Japanese police relating to the work of the ring. Local developments began about 10.30 a.m. on Monday when three Thai men went into several Queen Street banks and cashed forged traveller's cheques. The head of the Auckland fraud squad, Detective Inspector lan Hastings, said that an alert teller at the Queen Street branch of the Bank of New Zealand later made a check on the cashed cheques.

"She recalled an interbank memo from Australia and decided to make sure these cheques did not correspond with forged cheques reported in Perth in November last year.” he said. “To her dismay they did. and at this stage an interbank alert went to all banks in Auckland." The three men later went to the domestic terminal at Auckland Airport where one of them tried to cash forged cheques.

The teller stalled the man while the police were called. He was apprehended, but his colleagues ran off when airport policemen arrived at the bank.

Inspector Hastings said that Sergeant Colin Simpson, of the airport police, spotted two. men getting into a taxi and. as a precaution, noted the registration number.

When the circumstances of the attempted forgery came to his notice he traced the taxi and, after establishing that it had gone to the Auckland Railway Station, passed the information to detectives.

The two men were apprehended at the station soon after.

Inspector Hastings said that the three men had false identities and forged passports. They were carrying. collectively, $30,090 In cash. They also had uncashed forged traveller’s cheques with a face value of about $140,000.