Public urged to check notes after counterfeit haul seized

Subversive gangs were about to launder over €2m worth of fake notes into the economy when elite gardaí swooped on a sophisticated counterfeit plant.

Some €110,000 was “ready to roll” when armed anti-terrorist officers converged on a commercial premises earlier this week.

The haul was put on display yesterday by gardaí. They have advised businesses to examine their stocks for counterfeit notes by checking the watermark. On legitimate currencies, the watermark is embossed into the note, while on the counterfeit notes it is printed on.

Gardaí said that some of the money had gone into the legal economy and asked businesses affected to contact gardaí straight away.

“We have definitely thwarted a significant use of laundered money,” Superintendent David Taylor said at the press briefing. “This money would have aided and abetted both criminal and subversive activity.”

The scam was targeted as part of “an ongoing strategy to target both criminal and subversive groups,” he said.

€2m of counterfeit cash in various stages of production was seized from an organised crime gang on 2nd Feb in Dublinhttps://t.co/N0UZF2yvRR

— Garda Info (@gardainfo) February 7, 2014

The Garda operation involved a joint effort by the Special Detective Unit, which combats terrorist groups, and the Crime and Security Section, the intelligence division of the force.

In all, gardaí recovered four boxes, containing sheets of fake €50 notes in raw form. They had yet to have the watermark printed on them, after which they would have been cut up into individual notes.

Each box contained €500,000 worth of notes. Detectives also seized €110,000 in cash that was ready for distribution.

“We were quite surprised by the quality,” Supt Taylor said. “It’s quite sophisticated. To the untrained eye it would pass quite easily, without examining it.” He said gardaí were “concerned” at the quality of the notes.

“If large amounts of this cash was flushed into normal commercial business it would have a detrimental effect on the name of this country and businesses concerned,” Supt Taylor said.

Two massive printing presses, weighing some two tonnes, were also put on display inside a lorry container.

Supt Taylor said the cash would most likely have been laundered through busy cash businesses, such as pubs and nightclubs. “I would ask people, traders out there, involved in cash businesses, check the money in your possession.”

If they notice anything suspicious with the watermark, he asked them to contact gardaí immediately.