It has just been dismantled in an operation carried out by Europol, the Spanish police and the Mossos d’Esquadra in Barcelona, with arrests in Alicante, Malaga and Valencia. Eleven people were arrested: They had manufactured with machines bought in China for more than 8 M€.
A high-tech digital printer with sophisticated machines, ink and holograms imported from China and a successful turnover: the largest laboratory producing counterfeit €500 banknotes ever in Europe has just been discovered in Catalonia after an investigation coordinated by Europol.
Six of the eleven suspects detained
This is announced this Thursday by the Mossos d’Esquadra, the Catalan regional police force, which states that 11 suspects have been arrested in Barcelona, but also in Alicante, Malaga and Valencia. Six of them were arrested.
According to the Mossos, this clandestine printing plant, whose exact location is not given, could produce up to €8 million worth of counterfeit banknotes, and at least €4.6 million has already entered the official economy. Most would have been used by criminal organizations, particularly those related to drug trafficking.
This operation, carried out in September 2022, also seized counterfeit banknotes worth over 4.3 million euros. The investigation began in 2021 with the discovery by the Mossos of counterfeit banknotes worth over 4 million euros in a bag. Excellent quality fakes, among the best ever discovered in the European Union.
A banknote nicknamed Bin Laden
Nicknamed bin Laden because it was widely used when the euro came into force by terrorist or criminal organizations, the €500 note has not been produced since 2016, but it remains legal tender. : A merchant cannot theoretically refuse it unless he does not have the necessary currency. It can still be used to process transactions (up to a limit of €1,000 in cash in France) and to deposit into a bank account or exchange for cash at bank branches.