Boxes of counterfeit dollars were sent from Turkey and en route to the United States, but they were discovered and seized in Germany.
How tells DW, 75 boxes of counterfeits came from a wholesaler in Turkey and were discovered in the city of Kiel. The total cost of the unique parcel was $103 million.
According to police, the shipment of low-quality counterfeits was part of a wider operation to transport counterfeit bills from Turkey through Germany to the United States. After receiving information from American security authorities, German federal police traced the money.
Schleswig-Holstein police said they carried out “extensive searches” at the apartment and at two company addresses in Schleswig-Holstein and neighboring Hamburg. During the operation, four pallets containing boxes filled with counterfeit dollars were discovered and seized.
Investigators believe the banknotes came from a Turkish wholesaler who used one of the defendant's export companies in the town of Jubeck in Schleswig-Holstein as a way station for onward transportation to the United States.
The suspect is under investigation on charges of counterfeiting money. He is the managing director of two exporting firms and is suspected of having previously exported counterfeit money across the Atlantic.
It is noted that fakes of this type are not of high quality and can be recognized as fakes upon detailed study. However, the Bundesbank and US authorities have classified them as those that can be confused with real money in payment transactions.
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