TWO men said to be part of an organised nationwide counterfeit currency scam were jailed yesterday after being caught in the North-East.

Daliver Taskiran, 31, was sentenced to a total of 18 months after he admitted four offences. His accomplice, Nacci Aslan, 30, received a 12-month sentence.

Aslan was due to be freed immediately, after having already spent the equivalent of 13 months on remand since his arrest on Teesside last summer.

Teesside Crown Court heard that the pair, from London, visited travel agents across the country trying to exchange foreign currency that was fake or out of date.

David Brooke, prosecuting, said they succeeded at First Choice, Hartlepool, swapping 500 Bahrain dinar for pounds, on July 26.

But staff alerted the police, and other travel agents in the town were warned about the scam, in which Taskiran gave a false address and Aslan gave somebody else's name.

Within an hour and a half, the pair had tried to repeat the trick at TravelCare, in nearby York Road but were picked up by police.

At first, they claimed they had been given the money after performing as musicians at a wedding.

Police found Taskiran's Volkswagen Golf nearby and discovered more counterfeit Bahrain dinar, 1,000 Kuwait dinar and £4,700 which was the proceeds of an identical trick in Bradford, earlier in the day.

Martina Connolly, for Taskiran, said: "He certainly isn't at the hub of this network."

Both men admitted obtaining property by deception, attempting to obtain property by deception and acquiring proceeds of crime on July 26.

Taskiran admitted a further count of attempting to obtain £650 by deception in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordhire, on May 25.