24 January, Vitebsk /Olga Bogacheva - BELTA/. A currency dealer with a large sum of money has been detained in Vitebsk, the Information and Public Relations Department of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee informed a BELTA correspondent. An unemployed 38-year-old resident of the regional center, from November last year to January 19, 2012, engaged in illegal currency exchange operations near various retail outlets in the city, earning a profit of Br59.1 million. In total, law enforcement officers seized Br13.5 million, $4,000, and 246.6 thousand Russian rubles from the man. A criminal case has been initiated against the currency dealer under Part 1 of Article 233 of the Criminal Code of Belarus ("Illegal Entrepreneurial Activity"), which provides for up to three years of imprisonment. According to materials from the Internal Affairs Directorate's Combating Economic Crimes Department of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, it has been established that in 2011, individuals engaged in illegal entrepreneurial activities related to currency exchange operations within the region earned a profit of Br443 million. Law enforcement officers seized Br322 million from them. -0-

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