A trucker who counterfeited 10,000-yen notes and secretly swapped real notes in his wife's purse with the fake bills because he wanted money to go out for a drink has been arrested, police said.

Masahiro Fujiwara, 47, a truck driver living in Ome, western Tokyo, stands accused of counterfeiting currency and using fake bills.

He reluctantly turned himself in to police after he was grilled by his wife, who suspected that the bills in her purse were fake, according to investigators.

"I did it because I was short of money to go out for a drink," Fujiwara was quoted as telling investigators.

Fujiwara used a color copy machine at his home to produce about 10 fake 10,000-yen bills in June last year, local police said.

He then replaced 10,000 yen notes in his wife's purse with the fake ones. The wife used two of the bills at a fast food store and a dental clinic later in the year without knowing that they were counterfeit.

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