Counterfeit banknote paper bust: police confiscate eight tons

Hungarian police have confiscated eight tons of original banknote paper from suspected counterfeiters, police chief Jozsef Bencze confirmed Monday, according to Hungarian news agency MTI. Two of six suspected accomplices of the counterfeiters were arrested, according to police, who believe an international gang to be behind the operation. Police believe the suspects are Hungarian. The banknote paper was found last Thursday in the west Hungarian town of Gyoer. Police found the 735 packages, each with 500 sheets of banknote paper in two garages, Bencze said. The paper is part of a 15-ton package of banknote paper that was stolen in Germany in 1995, the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported. The paper could have been used to print false 50 and 200 euro notes, with 50-euro fabrications worth 150 million euros (220,5 million dollars)and 200-euro fabrication worth 440 million euros. The arrests came as counterfeiters were about to sell the paper. dpa kl lk