A clandestine printing press for the production of counterfeit banknotes was discovered this morning in Naples, in the Barra district, an eastern area of the city.
The discovery led to the seizure of counterfeit banknotes worth a total of €2,7 million and was part of an investigation by the Naples Public Prosecutor's Office aimed at neutralizing a transnational organization dedicated to the counterfeiting of 20, 50, and 100 euro banknotes.
The soldiers of the First Operational Section "Rome" of the Carabinieri Anti-Counterfeiting Command, supported by the soldiers of the Provincial Command of Naples, of the Special Operations Group and of the 10th Carabinieri Regiment Campania, carried out a search and arrested in flagrante delicto a man believed to be responsible for the preparation and management of the clandestine printing press, built in the appurtenances of one's own home.
A completely closed underground space was located, located behind the garage adjacent to the suspect's home, accessible only via a mobile wall built on rails that can be operated with a homemade electronic system, functional for the retraction of a large wall surface, hidden behind a wooden shelving unit used for the storage of technical equipment.
Inside the room, a clandestine printing shop was found, set up with a series of digital printers and other technical-graphic and IT tools.
In addition to the banknotes seized, 31 digital printers
Counterfeit 20, 50 and 100 euro banknotes with a total value of approximately 2,7 million euros were seized, as well as 31 digital printers and numerous technical-graphic materials functional to digital printing.
The investigations made it possible to ascertain that the printing house had generated large quantities of counterfeit banknotes of 20, 50 and 100 euro denominations, starting from 2021, attributable to 5 classes of counterfeiting defined by the European Central Bank as “common”.
The printing house had already produced 15 million counterfeit euros
It is estimated that the printing house, given its spread throughout the Eurozone, has monopolized approximately 30% of the counterfeit currency in circulation, having produced a total of over 15 million euros in counterfeit banknotes. At the end of the operations, the entire structure was seized.
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