Cameroon footballer sentenced to 9 years in prison for currency forgery in Myanmar

Cameroon footballer jailed in Myanmar for forgery

YANGON, Myanmar — A Cameroon football player who sought refuge at the French Embassy in Myanmar’s main city has been sentenced to nine years in prison on charges of forging U.S. currency, a newspaper said Monday.

A court in Yangon also sentenced another Cameroon man to seven years last Thursday, also on charges of counterfeiting U.S. dollar notes, the privately owned Weekly News Journal said. The journal did not give the names of the two African men.

The two men had come to Myanmar to play with local football clubs. After failing to secure contracts, they lived in a downtown hotel where they were allegedly counterfeiting U.S. currency, the report said. They were arrested after the hotel manager informed local authorities.

One of the men fled to the French Embassy in Yangon on Feb. 23 when he was being taken to court by police. He surrendered to authorities after a brief stay at the embassy.