Large-scale money forgers arrested in Almere

Over the past weeks the police arrested three people in Almere on suspicion of involvement in the large-scale production, trade and distribution of counterfeit money. According to the police, counterfeit notes made in Almere were found all over Europe.

The police launched this investigation in June 2018, after counterfeit money was found in Helmond. The investigation led them to Almere. Due to the international character of this investigation, the police are working closely with Europol, Dutch central bank DNB, and the Koninklijke Marechaussee, a policing force that forms part of the Dutch military and is responsible for border security.

On January 30th the police arrested the first six suspects in this case. All of them are still in custody.

During a large police action on January 30th, the police also raided ten locations. At almost all of these Almere locations items were found that are used for the making and trading of counterfeit money, the police said on Wednesday. This included printers, cartridges, holograms, envelopes, greeting cards, stamps and address labels. The police also found a total of 300 thousand euros in counterfeit 20 and 50 euro banknotes.

Drugs were also found during the searches. The police confiscated 1,751 MDMA pills, 535 grams of cocaine and 390 grams of hashish.