The FINANCIAL -- (WARSAW) – According to EU Business, Polish police on Thursday said they
had nabbed a record one million fake euros which they suspect were to
be used during the Euro 2012 football championships to be co-hosted by
Poland and Ukraine .
"This is the largest euro currency counterfeiting operation ever dismantled in Polish history and the largest of its kind in Europe this year," police said in a Thursday statement.
"We can't rule out that the counterfeiters were planning to put a large number of the notes into circulation during the Euro 2012 football championships," which EU-member Poland will co-host with non-EU Ukraine .
An ex-communist state which joined the now 27-member EU in 2004, Poland is not a member of the 17-state eurozone, or single European currency union, mentions EU Business online edition.
A 65-year-old man, who has not been identified, was detained during the raid on a house near Warsaw where the counterfeiting operation was headquartered.
Aside from the million fake euros in 50 and 500 bills, police also confiscated materials and equipment which could have served to print several million more false bills, along with a "large number" of fake identity documents, passports, car registrations and other counterfeit documents from several European countries.
Given its unprecedented scale, police have informed Europol of the operation.
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