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Call Sign
Editor Alan Fisher told this magazine: "To say I feel
stunned is just a gross understatement! I knew these guys well,
but I knew them just as friendly people who always seemed to put
themselves out in order to make sure Call Sign went out
on time! I never dreamed I was standing on top of £millions of
fake £20 notes. All the messages that went out over the
Dial-a-Cab terminals about watching out for dodgy £20s and here
I was sitting down next to the actual printing press that
probably produced them!" Now three men, including the two owners of John Brown Printing, this magazine’s former printing firm, have been imprisoned for a combined total of over 24 years for producing £17.5million of fake banknotes! Following prolonged surveillance by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) on what appeared to be a legitimate printing business in South Norwood that had contracts with British Home Stores and Call Sign, brothers Phil and Christian Brown, who ran the commercial printing firm after their father John Brown’s retirement several years ago, were said to be key players in an operation to print and distribute fake £20 notes. Also found guilty was Mehmet Altinfincan. To date, notes with a face value of over £17.5million and which were said to have been printed in the Portland Road printing business, have been removed from circulation. Intelligence gathered by SOCA officers finally closed the John Brown premises after establishing that it was really a front for buying materials needed to produce counterfeit currency including a toner foiling machine and rolls of foil along with a computer containing images of scanned notes. The three were arrested by City of London Police officers in June 2010, not long after Call Sign moved over to a new printer because the satisfaction that this magazine always felt suddenly ended when the typesetter Alan Tarant, who Editor Alan had worked with for almost 13 years, was suddenly laid off and his replacements never matched up to Alan Tarant’s high standard. The Editor mentioned his concerns to Chairman Brian Rice who decided to put the account out to tender. |
Call Sign former printers sensation… |
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Print firm was really counterfeit business! |
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 Christian (L) and Phil Brown: Call Sign worked with them! |
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Alan Tarant told Call Sign:
"I never once suspected that £millions were being printed
under my nose. It just seemed like a normal printing business.
I’m just pleased that I was laid off before the police became
involved because I assume that at first everyone that worked at
John Brown Printing would have been a suspect." Following a raid on Phil Brown’s home, the contents of a shredder were retrieved and analysis of that material revealed counterfeit notes printed on the back of a poster. A memory stick containing images of scanned notes in a print-friendly layout was also discovered. SOCA’s Trevor Symes told Call Sign: "This investigation demonstrated that organised criminals will pursue any form of illegal activity they think will turn a profit. They need to know that whatever they try, they will find SOCA and its partners ready to stop them and make them pay." The investigation also discovered the three men were part of a wider organised crime gang involved in a range of organised criminal activities and during the investigation, they found a full cannabis production facility in Phil Brown’s home. Christian Brown, who Call Sign always relied on to sort out production dates and who Alan Fisher described as always being friendly and helpful, kept what was described as a ‘business plan’ that set out projections for a £100,000 return on every 2-3 month cannabis plant cycle. SOCA officers also discovered counterfeit £1 coins in varying stages of completion, as well as equipment for forging £2 coins. Daniel Brown, who is a cousin of Christian and Phil, was said to be responsible for distributing fake 50euro notes. However, it is not known if the Browns were |
responsible for producing these notes as well as
the £20 notes. A quantity of 50euro notes with a combined face
value in the region of 350,000 euros was taken from Phil Brown’s
home. Following that, over 9.3 million euros of the same series
have to date been withdrawn from circulation across the EU. Another gang member, Bekir Arif, who had been released from prison on licence following a previous conviction for supplying heroin, was involved in making and distributing counterfeit one pound and two pound coins. At Kingston Crown Court on 5 April, Phillip Brown, pleaded guilty to cultivation of cannabis and abstraction of electricity. He was convicted at trial of conspiracy to make counterfeit £20 banknotes and conspiracy to deliver counterfeit 50euro notes. He was sentenced to nine and a half years. Christian Brown pleaded guilty to conspiracy to make counterfeit £20 notes, conspiracy to make counterfeit coins, conspiracy to deliver counterfeit coins, conspiracy to deliver counterfeit 50euro notes, cultivation of cannabis and abstraction of electricity. He was also sentenced to nine and a half years. Mehmet Altinfincan got five and a half years, Daniel Brown received two years, while Bekir Arif was convicted of conspiracy to make and deliver counterfeit coins. He received eight years. He had been released from prison on license in 2009 following a 1999 conviction for conspiracy to supply heroin. Last word to Alan Fisher and one supported by Allen Togwell, who knew him for many years: "I feel so sorry for Christian and Phil’s father John. He is such a lovely man and he must be totally devastated." Dennis
Latchett |
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