Hong Kong Police officers, working with their counterparts in Guangdong Province and Macau, have smashed a counterfeit banknote syndicate, arresting 12 suspects and seizing a large quantity of forged Hong Kong banknotes.

Law-enforcement agents from the three places began investigating after Hong Kong Police identified a syndicate involved in manufacturing and distributing counterfeit $100 banknotes late last year.

Last month, officers from the Commercial Crime Bureau raided 29 locations and arrested two Hong Kong men, aged 38 and 57, for passing counterfeit banknotes.

Mainland Public Security Bureau officers in Guangdong, Shenzhen and Zhuhai arrested six mainlanders - three men and three women, two men from Macau and a Hong Kong man.

In a raid on a forged banknote-manufacturing workshop in Guangdong, the Mainland officers seized a large quantity of finished and semi-finished counterfeit Hong Kong banknotes of $1,000, $500 and $100, as well as Macau patacas-denominated notes.

Manufacturing tools - including computers, inkjet printers, CD-ROMs containing images of 26 different counterfeit currencies and paper fit for producing forged banknotes - were also seized.

Macau counterfeit notes also seized

While in Macau, the Macau Judiciary Police also arrested a Macau man for passing counterfeit Macau MOP$500 banknotes on several occasions.

Hong Kong Police will continue to maintain close liaison and exchange intelligence with neighbouring police authorities to stop cross-boundary counterfeiting activities.