Fake money with an extremely high quality imitation of the protections was found at the action of the anti-mafia printing house for the Menteta in Shumen. The Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (GDBOP) defined as "super fakes" the seized 500 euro notes. And the fake levs have remained "elusive" even for ATMs.
Tikhomir Bezlov from the Center for the Study of Democracy told bTV that there has not been such a case since 2020-2021. “Compared to the beginning of the century – 2002-2003, when there were several printing presses broken every year, now it seems that it is rare news”, Bezlov said.
According to him, apparently the GDBOP knew about this printing house. The special police said that they have been trying to get to her for four years.
„They are usually old acquaintances, people with experience, some with convictions”, Bezlov said about the groups engaged in such activity.
According to him, Bulgaria has the reputation of a country associated with the production of counterfeit money. The direction in GDBOP was well developed, it used data from foreign services.
The media interlocutor added that one of the big themes for any sophisticated criminal activity requiring distribution networks is how it functioned without an umbrella. However, such a thing rarely goes to court.
Bezlov wonders how the counterfeits of 500 euros were used, because such a banknote has not been printed for a long time by the European Central Bank and always makes an impression, especially in larger numbers. He made a guess that the money was used, for example, among criminal structures in Latin America or South Asia.
According to him, questions about the delivery of the paper and the placement of the banknotes remain in the investigation.