Crime, Financial Services, Lithuania, Security

International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Thursday, 28.03.2024, 09:49

Lithuanian police prevent EUR 3.5 mln worth of fake euro notes from getting into market

BC, Vilnius, 25.07.2016.Print version
The Lithuanian police have prevented almost 3.5 million euros worth of fake 50-euro notes from getting into the market in the country and abroad, informs LETA/BNS.

"Arrests and searches were carried out in different cities of the country simultaneously. Europol officers were invited and provided help. The investigation was launched in 2015 when new fakes were spotted on the market following the introduction of the euro in Lithuania. These counterfeits were in circulation and were distributed in as many as 15 EU member states," Andzejus Roginskis, acting head of the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau, said at a news conference on Friday.


"I want to reassure people that the fake euros have not reached the Lithuanian market," he added.


The police detained six Lithuanian nationals, some of them well-known to the authorities, and arrested three of them. More than 10 searches were conducted in their homes and cars.


Two printing shops were busted during the police operation on Jul. 13. One of them printed poor quality euro notes and the other used laser printing equipment. The fake notes they had already printed were mostly distributed in Lithuania, Latvia and Germany.


Officers seized 3.5 million euros worth of 50-euro note sheets and 343 finished 50-euro notes worth 17,100 euros, as well as printing equipment and holograms.


The Police Department said that a prosecutor from the Prosecutor General's Office and officers and experts from Europol, the Kaunas and Vilnius police and the Lithuanian Forensic Research Centre took part in the joint operation led by the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau.


Officers from the Lithuanian police anti-terrorism unit Aras stormed a fake euro printing shop in Kaunas back in November 2004. The persons involved in the counterfeiting business were arrested and convicted.

 






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