Man caned for narcotic offenses, forging $18.5k in $100 bills

SINGAPORE — Mahadi Ab Latif, 45, agreed to aid a friend from a halfway house who wanted to manufacture fake $100 bills to buy illegal smokes.

The amount of bogus $100 local notes the police seized from the two forgers was $18,500.

When he was arrested, Mahadi was working as a driver when he discovered an empty warehouse and helped hack the notes with a penknife.

In exchange for pleading guilty to one count of conspiring to fabricate money notes and two counts under the Misuse of Drugs Act, the Singaporean was sentenced on Monday (July 18) to six years and nine months in prison and three strokes to the cane.

He was sentenced to a year and nine months in prison for counterfeiting money notes as part of his punishment.

Muhammad Farhan Farus, Mahadi’s co-accused, met at a halfway house for substance abusers, according to the court’s information.

On Aug. 18, Farhan will enter a guilty plea in court. The purchase of $20 worth of sex enhancement pills was paid for using a fake $20 bill, according to one of the counts against him.

Farhan told Mahadi on June 28 of last year that he had found a blueprint for counterfeit currency on his laptop and was going to print it to buy illegal smokes.

However, Mahadi told Farhan that he was interested in some counterfeit currency for his own purposes.

He came up with the idea of utilising an abandoned warehouse in Changi that he had previously seen while out on delivery runs. On Farhan’s watch a printer, laptop, papers and printer ink were being assembled.

A total of 185 counterfeit $100 bills were made between June 28 and July 2 of last year.

There was no mention in the court filings of whether the phony notes were used or how the duo was discovered.

He had methamphetamine in his system when he was taken into custody on July 5. It was discovered that he had taken the medication himself.

An individual can face up to 20 years in prison and a fine for forging counterfeit currency.

Methamphetamine possession carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine. He faced a maximum sentence of seven years in prison and up to six cane strokes for his drug use.