The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday convicted two foreign nationals – a Bangladeshi and a Briton – of circulating nearly $5,000 in counterfeit Indian rupees in 2013.

Presiding judge Keo Mony said that British tourist Muhamed Suhaei, 51, was sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of circulating fake foreign currency. Bangladeshi national Azad Abul Kalam, 32, was given six years as an accomplice to the same charge.

Colonel Seng Darith, a municipal penal police officer, said that the pair was arrested on December 4, 2013, after bringing a total of 99,500 counterfeit Indian rupees to a money exchange shop located in O’Russey II commune in Phnom Penh’s Prampi Makara district.

“They were arrested based on the complaint of the money exchange shop owner after they sold 99,500 rupees in exchange for $850 in US currency from the victim,” he said.

He added that after their arrests, police found them to be in possession of more than 300,000 more fake rupees, equivalent to about $4,711.

The two convicted men could not be reached for comment.