Large and Efficient Plan for Reproducing Banknotes Unearthed as Result of Patient Investigation by Police Canton, Nov. 1
'The handiwork' of Chinese banknote counterfeiters has, generally speaking, been notably amateurish, but the gang of forgers who have] recently fallen into a net laid by. the Canton police, need not, doff their hats to skilled professionals) of any land. Their product defied detection, and it-was only the fact that duplicate numbers. were found to be atopping up frequently that} led to the initiation of the search that has culminated in the downfall of the organization.
While the printing presses were grinding away, the leader drowne the tell-tale sourd-by giving a radi concert to the delight of his neigh-ours and passers-by. A loud speak-cer had been installed in his residence that amplified many times the music that came-through the ether from the Canton Municipal Broadcasting, Station. Even those whose residences were separated from the home jin which the spurious paper mon was being manufactured wholesale by but a thin wall did not dream that anything out of the way was going on.
For those hours when no radio programme was sent from the Tocal or distant: stations, another! novel method of killing the noise made by the presses was employed. 'A troupe of Buddhist priests and nuns were wont to assemble at the residence, and there they chanted! weird hymns to' the accompaniment, gongs and drums. The simply could not compete with the racket made by" those who. went through the" Buddhist service.
Really Artistic Gent For many a week this must have gone on, and yet suspicion was not aroused, for the leader was an fominent citizen of Canton's suburb, Honam, an artist par excellence fof the' old Chinese school. This well-known gentleman was also well thought of as a performer on native musical instruments, and he is also known as a connoisseur in the field of rare and ancient porcelain. top of all that, this man of refinement was a substantial merchant, the manager of a Honam matting manufactory.
All this. must have gone on for: 1a very long time, but the best-laid plot must fail if the crook persists too long in carrying on his nefarious} practices. An amah employed in the household tried to exchange some of the spurious bits for silver coin one day at a money shop, and a watchful detective picked up the first clue. He had learned how to pick out these imitations from the real article, and observing at a lance that they were all counter-felts, he followed the hired woman to her abode. 2
By working slowly en carefulig> the secret service operative was able."
pick. up. an acquaintance with the head of the house. Sometime thereafter, posing _as\ the repre: sentative of a firm dealing machinery, he got the forger interested in the matter of investing in some new presses. Little by tittle, he learned the truth: the printing was being done this home, Foreign Notes Initated It took the band of sleuths who finally paid this ringleader's home 'a surprise visit over two hours to find the pYinting plant. They ran~ sacked the place from' end to end, and by mere chance finally found the catch that opened the door into a small secret chamber, the workshop of the counterfeiters, Under a grilling third-degree examination the leading—forger broke down, and told all that he Knew. Others were involved, and two of the accomplices were caught, and confessions extorted from them. Another raid took place, and this time it was the engraving plant. at which the detectives. catled, over in another Canton suburb, Fong—chuen, They found as: completely equipped an engraving office as any in the world,.As many as seventeen pieces of (tus for enlarging genuine bills formed part of. th ~Jequipment. Having got a: perfect production of the real banknote many times the.nabaral size, the engravers were enabled to make a detailed study of the intricate design, and thus turn out' an cellent reproduction, Over in the Honam home of the leader of tis gang, only $42,800 in notes of the Central Bank of China were discovered. But there wore more than $2,000,000 of these notes stacked up in the engraving office. Besides these, there were more than $400,000 in "Prench banknofps, total of more than $100,000 in paper currency of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, and well over $100,0w in Singapore inknotes. This is by far the ingest haul that has been made for years, undoubtedly, and is a feather in' the cap of the operatives Reuter, 1 from Canton's "Scotland Yard".—
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.