EFE-Madrid-
Four Bulgarian citizens and six Romanians have been arrested in Spain accused of forging and distributing counterfeit banknotes worth 403,570 Euros, the largest volume of illegal currency detected in Europe that they were planning to introduce to the market within 48 hours, according to the police today.
The investigations began last February when the judicial police detected a significant increase in the number of 200 euro banknotes in circulation and concluded that "extremely high-quality" counterfeits had spread across Europe, according to the source.
After finding out the identity of several Romanian citizens in charge of introducing the counterfeit banknotes in Spain, the police were able to reach the top of the organization, which printed the banknotes in Bulgaria and had just brought into Spain 400,000 Euros - almost all 200 Euro banknotes hidden in various vehicles prepared for the purpose.
The arrests took place on August 23.
A police spokesperson highlighted the high quality of the counterfeit banknotes, printed in offset with a perfectly visible hologram and optical inks that varied according to the intensity of the light like legitimate banknotes, which made them practically undetectable.
Almost no bank has systems to determine the falsity of these banknotes, assured the spokesperson, who explained that as time goes by the paper of these counterfeit banknotes loses quality, so then it is somewhat easier to distinguish them.
Also seized were 2000 Euros in banknotes of 500, 50, 20, 100, 200 with a lower quality print, as well as 17,160 euros of legal tender, a blank firing pistol and three luxury watches valued at 21,000 Euros that were stolen from a jewelry store in southern Spain.
According to the police, the "exchangers" or those in charge of distributing the counterfeit banknotes of Romanian nationality, operated in tobacconists, food stores or pharmacies, and paid the counterfeiters about 70 Euros for each counterfeit 200 Euro banknote. With the appearance of this type of news, at Countermatic we can only recommend that you protect your businesses with COUNTERFEIT BANKNOTE DETECTORS
