Four arrested over £76m counterfeit treasury bonds

Four men have been arrested in Budapest accused of planning to pass three counterfeit US treasury bonds worth $100m each.

The Hungarian police, working with the FBI, made the arrests in the Hungarian capital following a joint sting operation.

The FBI began investigating the case in July, when an agent in New York received a tip that a Russian in Hungary was trying to sell the bonds.

The agent, posing as a go-between for the man and a US bank, received a faxed copy of one of the bonds, which he recognised as counterfeit.