10 people have been arrested across Almeria and Murcia charged leading a gang which introduced counterfeit 10,20 and 50 euros notes into the economy.
They were found with 44,000€ of fake notes on them, along with a further 5.117€ in real notes.
An earlier arrest of two other members of the gang allowed police to seize a further 22.000€ in fake notes. The police continued their investigations, arrested a further 8 men in Murcia and seized 18.000€ in fake 20€ notes, along with a kilo of marijuana and an unspecified amount of real cash. Police have now made all these arrests public.
The gang would buy notes from professional counterfeiters abroad then slowly go around spending the money and changing the fake notes into real cash.
The total amount of money laundered in unknown, but police say they have probably introduced some 200.000€ in fake 20€ notes alone.