SHENZHEN Railway Public Security Department, with the help of Chengdu police in Sichuan Province, busted a criminal ring that was allegedly involved in making fake banknotes, local Chinese-language media reported.

    On March 15, police patrol officers found a suspicious man at Shenzhen Railway Station in Luohu District. The man told the patrol officers that he was going to Huaihua in Hunan Province with his girlfriend.

    The officers noticed that the man was afraid to make eye contact and he subconsciously put his hands in his pocket during a questioning by the police officers.

    Police officers later searched and found 114 20-yuan (US$330) banknotes in his pocket and some tools for making counterfeit banknotes in his luggage, according to the media said.

    The man was identified only by his family name Qin. He was a 23-year-old native of Anhui Province.

    An investigation revealed that Qin had found a post of how to make counterfeit banknotes while surfing the Internet. He contacted the person who posted the information through QQ and purchased tools and 114 fake 20-yuan banknotes for 550 yuan from the supplier in Chengdu, the media reports said.

    The railway police sent an investigation team to Chengdu and followed the suspect after he delivered two parcels to a local post office March 27. The two parcels were meant to be sent to Wuxi in Jiangsu Province and Changde in Hunan Province.

    On March 29, Shenzhen police arrested three suspects who were printing fake banknotes in a rented apartment in Shuangliu District in Chengdu. Police seized 11,000 20-yuan fake banknotes as well as color printers, computers and other tools.

    The four suspects have been criminally detained and taken back to Shenzhen for further investigation.

    (Han Ximin)