Can you break a 1 million dollar note?

Not a chance. But the story is rich in audacity.

A man from the Ivory Coast is in police custody in Abu Dhabi after allegedly persuading a woman to try to exchange two phoney 1 million dollar notes at the UAE's Central Bank.

Police say the man promised the woman a 30% cut after the notes were swapped - presumably for US notes or UAE dirham. The suspect was identified in press reports today only by the initials AB.

The fake notes feature the 1 dollar portrait of George Washington and are mostly black and white on the front.

The National newspaper quotes Colonel Rashid Mohammed Bursheed, the head of the organised crime unit, as saying the suspect claims he thought the notes were real.

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