Sofia, Bulgaria - Bulgarian authorities said on Tuesday they had seized a record amount of over 13 million euros' (about R194 million) worth of counterfeit notes, most of them recovered by scuba divers in a reservoir.
The huge haul of 500-euro bills, most of which had been stashed for safe keeping underwater in a dam in southern Bulgaria, was discovered after police were alerted to their imminent entry into circulation, chief prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov said.
"This is one of the largest amounts of counterfeit euros ever encountered (worldwide)," he told journalists in the central city of Plovdiv, after one of the counterfeiters confessed to the ploy and led authorities to the hiding place.
The exact value of the haul - a record for Bulgaria - will only be established after the notes are dried and counted, Plovdiv appeal prosecutor Ivan Daskalov added.
Most of the bills came in sheets of six and a small amount lacked holograms and other anti-counterfeiting signs, he said.
Tsatsarov said the fake notes were "of an extremely high quality" and their stay in the water only gave them a used look.
Three Bulgarians were arrested in connection with the case, including the owner of a printing company who has already been sentenced to six years for money counterfeiting, the officials said.
The European Central Bank decided earlier this year to stop issuing the violet-coloured 500-euro bills around the end of 2018 over fears that they are favoured by criminals for money laundering and even terrorist financing.
Those currently in circulation are however allowed to remain legal tender.
There has been some resistance to scrapping the 500-euro note, particularly in Germany, where most people still prefer to make payments in cash even for big ticket items like electronic goods.
AFP