A 35-year-old man has been arrested for being in possession of counterfeit bank notes with a face value of approximately R2 million.

According to police spokesperson Captain Kay Makhubele, the suspect approached employees at the South African Reserve Bank help desk on Wednesday and asked them to exchange the fake banknotes for real cash.

"The suspect informed the employee that he brought money for reprinting and that he was 'aware' that it was a fake money," Makhubule said.

The money was stashed in a black laptop bag and when the employee opened the bag, stacks of R200 notes were found. These were verified as fake notes with a value of R2 million.

"The suspect alleged that he was a mechanic and that he found the money in a box underneath one of the cars he was fixing.

"Police were called and the suspect was arrested," Makhubele said.

The suspect will appear in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court soon.

On January 1, a man was arrested at a petrol station in Limpopo after being caught in possession of fake rand notes totalling R179 200 and $149 300 (about R2.7m) in counterfeit dollars.

READ MORE: 3 bust in Pretoria with suspected fake money

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