MFA: Counterfeit Currency Manufactured in S.Ossetia

“Intensive manufacturing of counterfeit currencies” is underway in breakaway South Ossetia, the Georgian Foreign Ministry stated on February 20, after the Georgian police arrested a resident of the S.Ossetian capital Tskhinvali who is suspected of possessing counterfeit USD 20,000.

“A large number of counterfeit U.S. dollars are accumulating in the [South Ossetian] region, which is then put into circulation in a number of foreign countries: Russia, Israel and the U.S.A. In summer, 2005 counterfeit U.S. dollars, identical to those recovered from the Tskhinvali region, were found in Baltimore and in Los Angeles in autumn, 2005,” the Georgian Foreign Ministry stated.

The Foreign Ministry also said “these cases prove that the Tskhinvali region, as an uncontrolled territory which represents an ideal ground for international criminal groups.”