METRO VANCOUVER — The RCMP's federal counterfeit enforcement team claimed Thursday to have shut down the largest counterfeiting operation in B. C. history.
Officers raided a residence in the 8600-block 151B Ave. in Surrey on May 14 and arrested four persons and seized $220,000 in counterfeit Canadian and U.S. currencies in $50 and $100 denominations.
Also seized were a number of computers, ink-jet printers and other equipment used to manufacture the phony bills.
Richard McCaw, 30, of Coquitlam and Jesko Lindt, 49, of Surrey have been charged with making and possessing counterfeit banknotes and possessing instruments for making counterfeit banknotes.
Lindt was released but McCaw, who police say was known to them, is being held in custody.
Two others, a 55-year-old male and a 28-year-old female, have been released on promises to appear in court.
The investigation into the counterfeiting ring began in November.
Samples of the counterfeit notes plus the equipment seized in the raid were displayed in the RCMP’s federal operations building on 76th Avenue in Surrey.
Sgt. Tony Farahbakhchian, a counterfeit specialist with E-Division’s federal commercial crime section, said the seizure of phony banknotes was “the large seizure of this nature in B.C.’s history.”
Counterfeiters in B.C. account for nine per cent of the amount of phony currency circulating in Canada, he said.
According to Bank of Canada national statistics from February to March this year the number of counterfeit $20s increased by 24 per cent, $50s increased by 19 per cent and $100s by 15 per cent.
“I’m confident that the counterfeit currency lab take down will significantly reduce the amount of counterfeit banknotes in B.C. because these increases were predominantly linked back to Mr. McCaw and Mr. Lindt’s counterfeit operation,” said Farahbakhchian.
He said the numbers of counterfeit banknotes in circulation had decreased over the past five years due to new security features being built into banknotes, increased law enforcement, public education and heightened retailer awareness.
The counterfeiting lab was being run in a rented house, said Farahbakhchian, but he wouldn’t say what led police to the home.
He also couldn’t say how much counterfeit money might have been produced and distributed by the lab before it was raided.
Katie Robb, an analyst with the Bank of Canada, said there was an estimated $3 million of counterfeit money in circulation in Canada in 2008.
Farahbakhchian said there were a number of security features on new banknotes that were reliable, quick and easy to use.
“Simply, touch, tilt and look through a banknote to confirm it is genuine,” he said.
The Bank of Canada website at
http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/bankno...eit/index.html provides information on the security features of new banknotes so the general public can use them to determine if a note was genuine.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/RCM...396/story.html 
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