A 35-year-old man has been arrested by members of the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department’s (EMPD) tactical response unit in conjunction with the South African Police Service’s crime intelligence unit after he was found with money stained with ink.
The dye-stained bank notes amounted to more than R4,000, and the 35-year-old man was arrested in the Delmore Park area, according to the EMPD.
“The interim joint operation between law enforcers, was immediately established following intelligence received from a reliable source, about a suspect who could be harbouring unlawful firearms and ammunition, at his residence. The dedicated team of officers proceeded to the given address where a house situated on Impangela Street was raided,” said EMPD spokesperson Katlego Mphahlele.
“The male occupant found on the premises during the brief visit could not give clear answers when officers uncovered R200, R100 and R50 dye-stained cash notes amounting to R4,150, before he was taken to the Reiger Park police station.
“The law breaker, facing charges of possession of stolen property is expected to appear before the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court soon,” she said.
Automated teller machines (ATMs) hold cash in special containers that protect the money with dye-stain technology that is activated when someone tries to break open the container. Once activated, the cash is stained with a dye, thus defacing the bank notes, rendering them unusable as money. The stained notes are recognised as having no monetary value once they are stained with the dye.
People who are in possession of these notes make themselves suspects in a criminal investigation that will seek to determine if they were involved in the stealing and unauthorised access to ATM containers.
During the 2021 civil unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, IOL reported that hundreds of ATMs were destroyed and money was stolen.
At the time, the South African Banking Risk Information Centre said it had noticed an increase in the attempted circulation of dye-stained notes in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, following the destruction of the multiple ATMs.
IOL