A 27-year-old man was today jailed for 42 months after being convicted of passing counterfeit banknotes and theft.

The District Court heard that the man exchanged US$1.35 million banknotes into Hong Kong dollars at a local money exchange shop in Tsim Sha Shui in January.

The shopkeeper examined the notes and, believing that 1,000 US$100 banknotes were counterfeit, reported it to police.

The defendant was arrested and alleged that he was employed as a money courier in Togo to bring the cash to Hong Kong for remittance to the Mainland.

Police investigations uncovered 700 genuine US$100 banknotes at the defendant's guesthouse and another 304  genuine US$100 banknotes in his bag.