Germany seizes $103M fake US currency

BERLIN — German investigators said Friday they have seized counterfeit U.S. dollar bills with a face value of over $103 million, which apparently came from Turkey and were being stored ahead of transport to the United States.

The criminal police office in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany’s northernmost state, said officers found 75 cartons of fake dollars in searches of an apartment and two company addresses after tips from U.S. authorities led them to firms run by a man who is suspected of exporting counterfeit money to the U.S. in the past.

The bills, known as “prop copy” or “movie money,” could be recognized as fakes when scrutinized closely, but Germany’s central bank and U.S. authorities believe they could be mistaken for real money in everyday life, police said in a statement.

They believe the counterfeits came from a wholesaler in Turkey who was using one of the suspect’s export firms in Juebek, near the Danish border, for interim storage before the bills were shipped to the U.S. The 42-year-old suspect, a Turkish national, wasn’t arrested but faces an investigation under Germany’s law against counterfeiting.