Half-billion former Iraqi dinar seized at Umr Qasr

Turks.U.S. ^ | 12/08/03

[No Blue States]

Maybe pakistani terrorists were trying to exchange it into the new Iraqi dinars before they become obsolete.
(jan 2004?)

[Principled]

Pervez, you got some splainin' to do!

[Ranger]

My guess is that its a small business or former Baathist trying to get its currency swapped out before it becomes valueless. It's odd though that the Pak Central bank is involved and the bills don't look like they've been in circulation. This would lead me to think its a repatriation of former government money. Maybe the petty cash fund from the former Iraqi embassy.

[gaspar]

You will note that the money wrapper has a tag which notes "Asma Money Exchangers". The only large Asma Money Exchange listed on Pakistani business sites is the Asma Money Exchange on Mall Road (the main drag), Lahore, Pakistan.

Lahore served as one outlet for washed money when the Bank of Credit and Commerce ruled the banking roost in Pakistan. Given ithe location of the Asma Money Exchange, the funds could have been used to support Mujahideen in either Afghanistan or Kashmir.

[gaspar]

You forget, until 1999 MPC was freely convertible at US banks operating in Viet Nam. In addition, Cho Lon Chinese accepted MPC without question. They then suborned GI's to buy expensive items from the PX (watches and stereos were especial targets) which they turned around and sold at inflated prices. They also sold MPC at a slight discount (usually 10%) to GI's leaving Viet Nam, who then turned in the MPC for hard currency.

[samtheman]

Someone's printing up billions of the stuff to get in on as much of the exchange as they can.

[elli1]

The money may have been destined for the terrorists, or it might simply have been an attempt to redeem Saddam dinars before they're declared completely worthless. Do the dinars have to be exchanged in Iraq? Doesn't make sense to haul money in a suitcase to Iraq just to exchange it. That is, unless the money must be exchanged there.

[elli1]

Nevermind--The only official dinar exchange is at locations in Iraq. I found the answer to my question at the CPA website.

[EuroFrog]

My hubby got one of those Suddam bills while he was in Iraq.

[stylin19a]

Just wondering if it would be better to put a tail on the money to see where & who it goes to, rather than seizing it?

[No Blue States]

His is much more valuable than mine then, becuase if he was in Iraq he EARNED his.

I think its a great piece of History.

[Oatka]

Reminds me of when I was in Korea and we changed from script to greenbacks.We had an alert at 3 am to get everyone on post.We thought we where fixin to bug out.Instead we had to change out all our MPC for greenbacks. The Mamasans in the village was throwing sacks of the script over the fence to get it exchanged since it would be absolutely worthless.

My brother was in Korea in the late 50s and had this happen to him, though in this case, the govt. was just changing the colors of the MPCs. Evidently there was a lot of black marketing going on by the soldiers and if you had a large amount, you had to 'splain where you got it.

My brother got a kick out of it as the changeover was SO hush-hush, no one knew of it yet the mama-sans did and threw the money back over the fence, knowing the troops would spend it all at the local houses right away.

He gave me a couple of the bills, which reminded me of the old U.S. bills that had some first rate engraving on them, with images of Justice or Liberty.

I was into my Gold phase back then, and told him that showed why the govt. loved fiat currency. They could just declare one color invalid and replace them with new bills, sometimes, like many Euro govts, at a 10-1 reduction. With gold, they couldn't decree an ounce now weighed only 1/10 of an ounce.

[Luke Skyfreeper]

Old Iraqi dinars will be replaced in full with new notes by Jan. 15, 2004.

The auction on ebay expires Jan. 20th.

[CholeraJoe]

I'd almost forgotten about script. I used it as a kid while living in Britain. What year did they change to greenbacks in the ROK?

I was in the ROK in early 84 and $20 greenbacks were referred to as "PACAF Form 20." BTW hundred Won coins worked in Vending machines just like US quarters but were worth less than half.

[eastforker]

I was there from may 73 till may 75,somewhere inbetween.When I was there a dollar was exchanged for 400 won.

[CholeraJoe]

When I was there it was 800-1000 Won to the dollar. When I went to Hawaii for R&R the soda machines gobbled up the 100 Won coins just like quarters.

[angkor]

I had to stand at a Vietnamese ATM a few weeks ago and withdraw 10,000,000 (10 million) in local currency, 2,000,000 at time (that's the max you can withdraw of the stupidly-named "Vietnamese dong").

So after 5 runs at it and 5 successive ATM charges by my U.S. bank, I was $650.00 richer.

Still, 100,000 VND ($6.50 USD) will buy a pretty reasonable dinner for two in Saigon.

[FlyLow]

I had to stand at a Vietnamese ATM a few weeks ago and withdraw 10,000,000 (10 million) in local currency, 2,000,000 at time (that's the max you can withdraw of the stupidly-named "Vietnamese dong").
So after 5 runs at it and 5 successive ATM charges by my U.S. bank, I was $650.00 richer.

Still, 100,000 VND ($6.50 USD) will buy a pretty reasonable dinner for two in Saigon.

---

Why were you there? This must not be the assignment of choice for anyone. How long will you be in Saigon?

[angkor]

This must not be the assignment of choice for anyone.

I was there for several reasons, business and non-business, but back now.

Was privileged to see the USS Vandegrift dock at Saigon Port, first US Navy vessel there in 30 years. Even better to see the squids out on shore leave, wandering through downtown Saigon.

What a sight. And it means the old fuddy-duddies in Hanoi are finally losing their grip on power, which is a very good thing indeed.