site.btaFifth Arrest Made in Police Sting Against Counterfeit Euro

A total of five people have been detained following an operation by the Counterfeiting Division of the General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (GDCOC), Interior Ministry Secretary General Georgi Kandev said in a Facebook post Tuesday. 

Four of them - two Bulgarian and two Romanian citizens - were arrested on Monday during an operation by the GDCOC Counterfeiting Unit while carrying out a transaction involving counterfeit money. 

Two of the suspects, a Romanian and an Italian national, had made regular visits to Bulgaria related to the production and distribution of counterfeit EUR 100 banknotes. A total of EUR 1,212,300 has so far been found in Sofia, he added. 

Investigative actions have also led authorities to Pazardzhik (South Bulgaria), where an additional EUR 200,000 and one kilogram of cocaine were discovered. An Italian citizen has been detained there, Kandev said. 

He added that work on the case is also continuing on the territory of Romania.