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THE Mitchell's Plain task team uncovered a major money laundering scam in Mitchell's Plain.

Earlier this month, the police followed up on a tip-off about illegal and suspicious activities at a house in Oberon Street, Eastridge.

During a search, members of the task team found equipment used to make so-called 'Black Dollars' used by foreign internationals.

Four bags containing stained $50 000 Black Dollars ? to the value of R100 000 per bag ? and two containers ? one with ink and the other with a white powder ? were also confiscated. A man in his thirties was arrested. Black Dollars are counterfeit money in the American currency.

According to the police, people are tricked into buying the Black Dollars with real money.

Of the packs confiscated by the police only the top five notes were Black Dollars, with the rest plain paper.

The notes in all the packs were stained and the seller provides the buyer with a substance to remove the stains.

The police said the seller would also tell the customer that, once the stains are removed, the notes can be exchanged at the bank.

Inspector Rewayne Müller, media spokesperson of Mitchell's Plain police, said the seller charges R100 000 for stained $50 000.

The buyer thinks they are getting a bargain as the seller supplies substances and demonstrates how to clean the money.

Given the rand/(US) dollar exchange rate, the buyer may be led to believe they will gain when they exchange the fake money.

Müller said: "If the perpetrator was not arrested, how many people in Mitchell's Plain would not have been conned?

"Many people in the area don't know of these sorts of crimes, and it is a good arrest made by the task team to take this fraudulent money out of circulation as well as these people out of our community."

The confiscated white substance was taken for testing to the police laboratory. The police confirmed that it is a substance used to make a solution to 'wash' the Black Dollars.

The task team are investigating the possibility of a money laundering syndicate, but added that the perpetrators may have been using the Eastridge house for storage, while the network operated on a larger scale elsewhere.

"These crimes will not be tolerated in Mitchell's Plain. We will go to the fullest extent of the law to curb the perpetrators of fraudulently taking people's money," said Müller.

"This is an ongoing process to eliminate crime within the area. We thank the public for their correct information relayed, which led to the good arrest. This shows that the community and police are working together to reduce crime within the area."

The case is being investigated.

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