Italian finance police seized five sophisticated printing presses used to forge euro notes along with more than a million unfinished fake €50 bills with a counterfeit value of more than €50 million ($59.3 million), according to a story posted online at reuters.com.

The fake notes were inside the warehouse of a sewer company south of Naples and the seizure is one of Italy's largest in recent years, police said.

Police found large sheets of paper with the €50 watermark stashed behind a wood panel, and others in secret drawers built under the flooring.

Less than four months ago, police arrested a man north of Naples with €17 million in fake €50 notes.

Last month, Italian police seized €556,000 in fake euro coins minted in China, from a ship container in the port of Naples.

According to Italy's top counterfeit investigator in Naples, Gerardo Marinelli, half of all fake bills in the 19-country eurozone are printed in or around the city.

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