Bulgarian police divers seize huge counterfeit cash haul

Bulgarian authorities say they had seized a record amount of over 13 million euros’ ($14.4 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 by a dam in southern Bulgaria, was discovered after police were alerted to their imminent entry into circulation, says chief prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov.

“This is one of the largest amounts of counterfeit euros ever encountered (worldwide),” he says after one of the counterfeiters confessed to the ploy and led authorities to the hiding place.

Scuba divers pull almost €12 million in counterfeit notes out of a dam in #Bulgaria https://t.co/VbdSeRiA5H pic.twitter.com/Ymx9P7spQv

— Balkan Insight (@BalkanInsight) November 1, 2016

Tsatsarov says the fake notes were “of an extremely high quality” and their stay in the water only gave them a used look.

The European Central Bank decided earlier this year to stop issuing the violet-colored 500-euro bills around the end of 2018 over fears that they are favored by criminals for money laundering and even terrorist financing.

— AFP