Bosnia police stop euro forging ring

Bosnia police stop euro forging ringBANJA LUKA, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Feb. 2 (UPI) --

The Europol and police of five European countries have broken an international ring producing counterfeit currency in Bosnia-Herzegovina, police said.

A task force made up of 120 law enforcement experts from the Europol police, Austria, Bosnia, Croatia, Germany and Slovenia were involved in a coordinated action to break the ring, the Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA reported Friday.In a raid Tuesday, the task force caught suspects forging hundreds of thousands of banknotes and dismantled an illegal print shop in Banja Luka in northern Bosnia.Nine people were arrested in Bosnia and two in Croatia.More than 200,000 euro banknotes worth $262,000 were seized in Banja Luka, Marinko Jurcevic, Bosnian chief prosecutor told a news conference.Police suspect the international ring of counterfeiters operated more than two years.Apart from printing forged euros, the shop was producing counterfeit Bosnian convertible marks, Croatian kuna and Norwegian crones.In July, three people were arrested in the Croatian capital Zagreb and police found counterfeit euro banknotes worth $1.6 million.

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