SINGAPORE - Three men aged between 27 and 63 have been arrested for allegedly conspiring to use counterfeit notes.

In a statement on Tuesday night (July 6), the police said they arrested two men aged 27 and 44 on Sunday for their suspected involvement in making counterfeit notes.

Counterfeit $100 "portrait series" notes amounting to $17,500 were seized from them.

Portrait series banknotes were first released in 1999 and are currently in circulation.

The older man will be charged in court on Wednesday with forging bank notes, while the younger man is assisting with police investigations.

The police also arrested a 63-year-old man on Sunday after receiving a report he had allegedly used a counterfeit $100 note to buy a lottery ticket along Ubi Road.

When officers from the Commercial Affairs Department arrested him, a counterfeit $100 note and drug-related paraphernalia were found on him.

It is not clear whether the three men knew one another.

In a separate incident, a 27-year-old man was last Saturday charged with using a counterfeit $100 note to buy an item in Geylang.

Anyone convicted of counterfeiting bank notes or using them can be jailed for up to 20 years and fined.