A foreign national was arrested when a large amount of counterfeit money was found in central Port Elizabeth on Thursday, Eastern Cape police said.

Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg said police received a tip-off around 11.30am that a road-side shop in the Korstens area had counterfeit money.

Police arrived and found the money in R100 and R50 denominations. Further investigations led police to a flat in the city centre, where they found a 37-year-old man who surrendered an envelope containing counterfeit money to them. When police searched the rest of the flat they found counterfeit R50, R100 and R200 notes behind a panel in a door.

The man was arrested and would appear in either the city's Commercial Crimes Court or Magistrate's Court on Monday on a charge of possession of counterfeit money.