SIBU (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - He was short of money for his wedding next month. So he printed counterfeit notes totalling RM4,000 (S$1,330) and gave them to his fiancee for use on their big day.

Now, the 28-year-old soldier is in hot water, as he has been arrested for possession of counterfeit money.

The soldier, with the rank of corporal, had given the fake cash to his fiancee as expenses for their March 30 wedding.

The woman became doubtful after checking the notes and questioned him.

He told her that the notes came from an ATM. The groom-to-be even showed her some withdrawal slips, which he had collected from the bin next to the ATM to "prove" the transaction to her.

This prompted the woman to advise him to lodge a police report.

Sibu OCPD Assistant Commissioner Stanley Jonathan Ringgit said on Sunday (Feb 17) that the suspect, who has been a soldier for seven years, had indeed withdrawn some money from his account last Friday.

ACP Stanley did not reveal the amount of that transaction.

The soldier lodged a report, thinking that this would prompt the bank to give him real money to replace the counterfeit notes "given" to him.

"Our investigation showed that the suspect had spent three days printing the counterfeit notes in an office of the army camp early this month," he said.

The suspect was arrested at 7.15pm last Saturday.

The police also seized from him 55 pieces of RM50 and RM100 counterfeit notes, a genuine RM100 note and a photocopy machine which belonged to the army camp.