Salzburg, Austria - A special unit from the Austrian police has arrested a counterfeiting gang and seized 14 million euros (19.3 million dollars) in fake banknotes, a police spokesman in Salzburg said Saturday. Seven men were arrested in the middle of the week in Villach in the state of Carinthia. Three of them were from the former Yugoslavia and the remaining four were Italian, the spokesman said.
It was the largest euro-counterfeiting ring busted by Austrian police in recent years.
The banknotes were of such a poor quality that even untrained consumers could have spotted them, Austria's APA news agency reported.
Apparently in an attempt to disguise the poor quality of their fake money, the counterfeiters had placed genuine 500-euro notes on top of each bundle, leading the police to seize a further 75,000 euros in cash.
