African pair held for cheating British man

Police have arrested two African men in a counterfeiting gang for cheating a British man out of $130,000.

Bessibe Armstrong, 25, from Cameroon, and Stephen Bandu, 32, from Ghana, were arrested at the Sukhumvit Crown hotel in Klong Toey late on Tuesday night.

The two allegedly lured Jahanzeeb Khan, 32, a British businessman, to give them money to buy chemicals and equipment to ``wash'' specially printed US dollar bank notes covered in black ink.

They told Mr Khan the money had been originally intended to be sent to the Ivory Coast. However, they were actually not dollar notes at all but just blank pieces of paper soaked in black ink.

Mr Khan said he gave the two men the cash and had an appointment to pick up the washed bank notes at the Grand President hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 11. He went there but the two men did not have the money as promised.

When police arrived at their room to arrest the two, they found two other men from Cameroon, Emmanuel Akwe, 34, and Landry Astrong Alain, 26. The two were also arrested and charged with illegal entry as there were no entry stamps in their passports.