FORGED BANK NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19940, 8 May 1928, Page 6

FORGED BANK NOTES.

TEN THOUSAND SEIZED. ARREST OF TWO RUSSIANS. SENSATION NEAR MELBOURNE. RAID ON A LONELY HOUSE. [rilOM CUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] SYDNEY, May 8. A remarkable story is associated with the arrest near Melbourne of two Russians, and the discovery at the house where they were found of 10,000 forged £5 notes. The man Stefan Karasiciwicz, is 47 years of age, and was born at Warsaw. A process engraver all his life, he showed such skill that he was employed in Russia during the regime of the Tsar by the Government note printing department. Then cam® the revolution. The Romanoffs were swept aside, Karasiciwica was thrown out of employment, the savings of his lifetime were confiscated, and in a few months he was starving. According to his own story he was able to leave Russia six years ago, and arrived in Sydney. He secured intermittent em ployment as a printer, and toward the end of last year went to Melbourne. In the meantime he had saved some money, and two years ago he sent for the other figure in the drama, Sima Marchenko, aged 23 years, a tailoress, and a native of Vladivostok. Now the man, who talke perfect English, and the woman, whose knowledge of the English language is very limited, are in custody charged with attempting to defraud the Commonwealth Bank. They are also charged with having been in possession of a printing press, inks, dies and other articles, which might be used to forge notes. ▲ House in the Scrub. It was really the attempts by the police to trace the makers of the forged £lO notes which were passed on Sydney and Melbourne racecourses recently that made them suspicious of the house in the scrub, which, it turns out, was occupied by the two foreigners. Tireless investigations had shown the police that an up-to-date printing press had been landed at Geelong. There the trail ended, but. strange stories continued to drift in tvom the Geelong district. .A milkman told of how he called daily at a little house hidden among the scrub. He had been ordered never to go to the door, but to wait at the fenct until a woman came out to him. Passers-by also told of two large, savage dogs, which guarded the front and back doors by day and night.

Armed with revolvers and batons the police, when they called at the house, soon disposed of the two huge wolfhounds chained at each door, and completely surprised the Russian, who was quickly handcuffed, while the printing press was still running. Detectives found within reach of where the man had been working a single-barrelled shotgun loaded and cocked. Following the arrest a half-dozen of the forgeries were submitted to experts who declared that they were as near perfect as possible. The police believe that an organised gang of Russians and Australians was concerned with the printing of the forgeries, and that arrangements had been made to circulate the note# in every State. Flawless Design of Kotos. The notes seized seem to the ordinary observer to be flawless in design and colouring, and when a forged note and a genuine note were placed alongside one another not one of the detectives could decide which was the imitation. It is considered that no difficulty would have been experienced in passing the forged notes anywhere, and as such a huge number had been printed it was evident that a big coup had been planned, and that the discovery was a timely one. Although it was at first suspected that the passing off of the £lO forgeries recently might be connected with the discovery, this theory has since been discounted by the fact that while the notes seized in the Melbourne raid were almost perfect, the counterfeit £lO notes recovered by the polic® were obviously defective. The accused have appeared befor# the Court, but it will probably be som® time before the police will complete their inquiries, which are likely to be extensive and somewhat delicate. In the meantime three other men, all Australians, have been arrested.