Another huge Spanish counterfeiting bust took place on March 1 when the Spanish National Police (Policía Nacional) and the regional Catalan Police (Mossos d’Esquadra), with the cooperation of Europol, dismantled an organized crime ring involved in the production and distribution of counterfeit euro bank notes and drug trafficking.

Fourteen people were arrested after nine house searches, seven in the Barcelona area and two others in Malaga and the Costa del Sol in the south.

Seizures included fake €50 notes with a face value of €25,000, paper used for counterfeiting cash, holographic bands, computer equipment and mobile devices.

The gang, led by a Lithuanian mother and son, included members of mainly Spanish, Lithuanian and Moroccan origin. They counterfeited €20 and €50 bank notes in Spain using three different printing machines with paper and a guillotine purchased on what was termed a “well known e-commerce platform.” They sold the notes on the dark web and used the proceeds in a marijuana growing and trafficking venture. They also dabbled in identity theft and deceptively renting expensive cars that they never returned.

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