One of the largest counterfeiting networks in Europe dismantled in Spain

They were making counterfeit 500 euro notes almost undetectable to the naked eye: a network of counterfeiters, presented as the largest in Europe for ten years, has been dismantled in Spain, the police announced on Thursday, who arrested 12 people.

This network, active on the east coast of Spain, in particular in Alicante and Barcelona, ​​is suspected of having produced "

" of counterfeit money in 500 euro notes, said the Spanish police in a communicated.

The operation, carried out jointly with the Catalan regional police (the Mossos d'Esquadra) and Europol, allowed the arrest of "

", including "

" and "

" of the network, adds the press release .

The investigation began in the summer of 2021, when the circulation of 500 euro banknotes "

“Having similarities with banknotes made by a network of counterfeiters dismantled nearly ten years earlier in Valencia (east).

According to Sergi Sanchez, head of the counterfeit money unit at the Mossos d'Esquadra, it accelerated when a bag containing 4.3 million counterfeit notes was discovered in August by a neighbor outside the home of one of the suspects, near Barcelona.

Read alsoPolice dismantle counterfeit Louvre banknote trafficking, 14 dealers arrested

Some of these banknotes did not have "

" allowing them to be authenticated, he explained during a press conference in Madrid, where bundles of counterfeit banknotes and machines seized during the attack were exhibited. 'investigation.

According to the police, the counterfeiters would have lacked the material to put the finishing touches to part of the production, due to the closure of the borders with China - where they used to get their supplies - due to the coronavirus pandemic. Covid-19.

The completed banknotes were of "

", and almost undetectable to the naked eye by non-experts, said during the press briefing Jorge Ruiz, investigator of the technical section of the Research Brigade of the Bank of Spain. .

According to the police, the alleged leader of the network had already been implicated and imprisoned in 2009 in another case of counterfeit notes.

He would have known his accomplices during his stay in a prison near Valence.