A serious theft of €50 notes from the security printing firm Royal Johannes Enschedé of Haarlem, Netherlands, was the result of an “inside job,” says a Feb. 25 report by the Dutch website Crimesite.nl. Enschedé is one of the authorized printers of euro bank notes.

Crimesite was told by sources that there had been reports for two years that employees were stealing a “substantial amount” of €50 notes. Moreover, the theft is said to include not only finished notes, but also ones still missing the overprint of serial numbers.

No arrests had yet been made in the case that is being handled by the public prosecutor in Haarlem. Much is still unknown about the alleged theft and the police are saying little, reports RTL News.

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Theo Peters, a leading coin and paper money dealer in Amsterdam, says he has not yet heard of any of the purloined “error” notes being offered on the market.

The printing firm was called Johan Enschedé en Zonen (and sons) until it received a royal warrant in 2003. It was established in 1703 and does about €55 million in sales annually. It is among the oldest businesses in the Netherlands, and was the exclusive supplier of guilder bank notes for the Netherlands central bank. Today printing euros is one of its core activities. 

The serial numbers of euro notes printed by Enschedé begin with the letter P.

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