Arrest of Illegal Dollar Dealers in Argentina
Three Chinese Nationals Hiding Cash Bundles in Waistbands
Nervous Gestures Touching Their Bodies as Raiding Team Arrives
In Argentina, where the exchange rate is soaring, three Chinese black market dollar dealers hiding $700,000 (930 million won) in their waistbands were arrested by authorities. The police initially suspected them of carrying firearms and conducted a stop-and-search, but instead of guns, bundles of $100 bills were repeatedly found.
According to local reports in Argentina on the 11th (local time), a joint task force consisting of the National Tax Service, Customs, and police launched a large-scale crackdown on black market dollar dealers in three areas of the capital Buenos Aires that day. This was due to the foreign exchange market falling into a panic state, with the unofficial dollar exchange rate rising more than 14.7% over the past two days.
In the Belgrano district of Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, during a crackdown on illegal black market dollar dealers, 700,000 dollars hidden in a belt were found on three Chinese nationals who were stopped for a security check. [Image source=Yonhap News]
The joint task force conducted intensive crackdowns in the Belgrano area, a major residential area for Chinese immigrants. During this, the police found three Chinese men who were very anxious and touching their waists.
Seeing their anxious behavior, the police suspected they were carrying guns and conducted a stop-and-search. However, what the police found was not guns but waistbands worn around their bodies. In particular, inside the waistbands were bundles of $100 bills amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The Chinese men exhibited suspicious behavior, engulfed in anxiety, fearing that the bundles of money they had hidden would be discovered when they saw the police conducting crackdowns on black market dollar dealers.
The money that came out of the waistbands of the three Chinese men amounted to a total of $700,000. Although there were rumors that the dollar bundles held by the Chinese were their gambling funds, the authorities are estimating them to be black market dollars.
In addition to these individuals, the task force announced that they arrested two other black market dollar dealers who were hiding $90,000 and $10,000 respectively inside their clothes, seizing a total of $800,000 (1.07 billion won) in illegal dollars in one day.
Argentina has recently fallen into an economic crisis due to soaring inflation. Amid this, the foreign exchange market has fallen into a panic and the exchange rate is fluctuating due to a major presidential candidate's pledge to 'eliminate the peso.'
According to the website providing unofficial exchange rate information in Argentina ('BlueDollar.net') on the 10th (local time), the dollar exchange rate against the Argentine peso rose sharply by 65.01 pesos from the previous trading day to 1,010 pesos. This is nearly three times the official exchange rate of 365 pesos, which is strictly controlled by the government.
This appears to be related to the radical right-wing candidate Javier Milei (52) repeatedly declaring, "I will replace the Argentine peso with the US dollar."
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