Police in Zimbabwe have arrested British property tycoon Nicholas van Hoogstraten on charges of violating currency exchange rules, state media said.
Police detained van Hoogstraten (63) after a night raid on his home on Thursday and charged him with levying rentals on properties in foreign currency, the official Herald newspaper reported.
Zimbabwean law prohibits the payment of foreign currency for local goods and services.
Van Hoogstraten owns about 200 residential and business properties in Zimbabwe, a police spokesman told the Herald. He also has significant investments on the Zimbabwe stock exchange.
He had sums of dollars, British pounds and South African rands in his possession when he was arrested as well as 20 billion Zimbabwe dollars ($666,666 at the official exchange rate but $3,333 on the black market), the newspaper said.
News bulletins showed police parading van Hoogstraten before state television cameras holding wads of money.
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said van Hoogstraten - who was arrested at his home in Harare's upmarket Emerald Hill suburb - would appear in court soon, the newspaper reported.
"Van Hoogstraten is being charged under the Exchange Control regulations for charging a service and dealing in foreign currency," Bvudzijena said.
A spokesman for the British Foreign Office in London told Reuters that van Hoogstraten had not requested help from the British embassy in Harare.