Bulgaria’s Specialised Prosecutor's Office and the Directorate for Combating Organized Crime disrupted a fake money printing factory, located in the basement of a hotel in Bulgaria’s seaside resort of Sunny Beach. Four people were detained, including the hotel owner, who, according to the investigators, is also part of the criminal group. About 13 million euros and dollars have been found, some of which were hidden in secret places around the country. According to the Prosecutor's Office, this is the largest and most modern printing factory for fake currency in the last decade, reports BNT. 

The investigation started at the beginning of the year. The detainees have rich criminal past and managed to cover up their activities very well. The group was disrupted on 20th of October after joint work with Secret Service and Europol. The machines were discovered in the underground floor of Hotel "Cantilena" in Sunny Beach. A total of 11,570,000 euros and 1,700,000 counterfeit dollars were found in a different stage of manufacturing.

Some of the money was stored in secret places across the country. Over 30 addresses were searched in the course of the investigation.

The banknotes were 500 and 100 euros, as well as 50 dollars. According to investigators in Bulgaria, counterfeits of similar quality have not been detected. An analysis from Europol will be made.

Evgenia Deyanova, a supervising prosecutor in the case: All the elements of protection, including a watermark, the luminous lines that real banknotes have were on the fake banknotes. These banknotes were sold at 6% of the value of the euro banknotes and the dollar was sold at 20% of the value.

The hotel in Sunny Beach remains closed. The Prosecution will demand all four detainees to be remanded.

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