South Ossetian Interior Minister Mikhail Mindzaev claimed on 8 December that Georgian police planted counterfeit U.S. dollar bills on Vyacheslav Gudiev, a South Ossetian police officer arrested in the conflict zone on 5 December. Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli told NATO officials last month that the territory of South Ossetia is used to produce counterfeit euros and U.S. dollars. U.S. experts are working with Georgian police to try to determine where in the conflict zone those counterfeiting operations are taking place. Also on 8 December, a Tbilisi City Court remanded Gudiev in pretrial detention for three months on charges of selling counterfeit currency and illegal possession of weapons. (Caucasus Press)