10 thousand riyals "commission" to replace 100 thousand .. Al Houthi invests the decision to ban the currency
English - Saturday 25 January 2020 الساعة 04:46 pm
aden,newsyemen
The decision of the Houthi militia, the Iranian arm in Yemen, to prevent the circulation and possession of the new edition of the national currency, resulted in the emergence of brokers and a black market for banknotes, in the areas under their control.
In recent days, the Houthi militia launched a campaign of raids, kidnappings and looting of sums of money from the new edition, from commercial stores in Sana'a, against the backdrop of the activity of some shop owners in replacing the new edition with old for citizens.
Local sources said that Houthi gunmen stormed several markets in Sanaa, including what is known as Ali Mohsen Market, and launched a search campaign for shops and confiscated the new edition.
Whereas, the Houthi militia pushed brokers to the markets in its areas of control to dispose of replacing new banknotes with old ones, in exchange for large financial commissions.
Residents in Sanaa said that after the Houthi kidnappings campaign of some shop owners who were exchanging banknotes for symbolic commissions, the citizens went to change their holdings of the new edition banknotes at brokers who work for Houthi leaders.
They added that brokers take advantage of the citizens' need for the old edition of banknotes, to loot large amounts of money in exchange for replacing them.
Walid Ahmed, a resident of Sanaa, said that during the deadline granted to them by the Houthi militia to exchange the currency, they were afraid to go to the designated centers, from the questions that banks ask about the source of the new currency, in addition to forcing them to write a pledge not to trade the new currency again otherwise, they will be imprisoned.
He added that the designated banks did not allow the exchange of new banknotes with old ones except within the limits of the amount of 100,000 riyals, and if there was a citizen in possession of a larger amount, he would place it in the bank as a deposit until the liquidity was available.
He said that he had to exchange banknotes with a broker working for Houthi leaders, in exchange for an amount of 10 thousand riyals for 100 thousand riyals, to avoid investigation and undertaking in banks and exchange companies that work in coordination with the Houthi militia.
