Penza, 9 March 2015. PenzaNews. Employees of one of the Penza gas stations are suspected of dealing with counterfeit money.

“A counterfeit 1,000-ruble banknote was found at a grocery store. The man who tried to use the banknote said he received it at a gas station. The police was dispatched to the location and investigated the CCTV recordings of the moment when the banknote was exchanged,” the press service of the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs informed PenzaNews agency.

According to the officers, the gas station worker who gave the counterfeit bill to the person received it from her colleague working on a different shift.

“She explained that she received the counterfeit bill during her shift and identified it as fake only several hours later. Afterwards, the woman agreed with her colleague to push off the bill to one of the clients,” the police said.

A criminal case has been opened, the press service clarified.

“The penalty for Art. 186 of the Criminal Code, titled ‘Making, storing, moving and exchanging counterfeit money or valuable certificates,” provides for up to 8 years of imprisonment,
 the MIA department of the Penza region noted.