One million euros worth of ‘high quality’ fake bank notes discovered in Spain

Police in Spain have arrested 14 people in connection with one million euros worth of counterfeit 100 euro bank notes which passed undetected by cash machines and other devices.

“The banknotes produced by the organisation were made by hand and were very high quality, as they used special inks, watermarks, and different elements designed to circumvent the detection mechanisms,” said Spanish National Police spokesperson Elisa Rebolo.

Based in Naples, Rome and Barcelona, a gang of Pakistani origin distributed the bank notes in Italy, France, Greece and Spain, police said.

Police said they had arrested distributors at Barcelona airport and the city bus station, in both instances carrying 70,000 euros in counterfeit notes.

The police operation involved forces in Spain, Italy and Greece and began last November after large numbers of counterfeit notes were discovered in Barcelona.

Elsewhere in Europe, a crime ring accused of more than 60 killings across Europe over the past decade has been dismantled, Greek police said on Friday.

More than 39 people, mainly from Serbia and Montenegro but also from Albania and Romania, have been identified on suspicion of participating in a criminal organisation, according to court documents, and about 17 are in prison in Serbia, Montenegro and Turkey.

The “Kotor Clan”, set up in 2010 in Montenegro and involved in drug trafficking around the world, split into two rival groups, Kavac and Skaljari, in 2014 after a dispute over a failed drug trafficking operation in Spain.

“The war between the two groups led to at least 60 murders throughout Europe,” said Athens police head Fotios Douitsis.

Four members, from Serbia and Montenegro, arrived in Greece in 2019 looking for a hideout. They were murdered a year later by members of the rival group, Greek police said.

When Greece sought help from Serbia and Europol, the European law enforcement agency established that gang members were using an app to send encrypted messages that would automatically self-destruct.

Europol and police in France, the Netherlands and Belgium mounted an operation to get access to the app and found evidence there connected to the murders in Greece.

Douitsis praised the cooperation and exchange of information among European police authorities, singling out Serbia for its assistance.