Men arrested at Manises airport in Valencia have led to the seizure of 8 million fake 500 euro notes .This is the largest forgery haul in Europe and it has stopped the notes reaching the open market.

At Manises they discovered paper used to print the money and then rthe National Police followed up this lead to discover the 8 million which was about to flood the European market.The money was discovered hidden in the two properties owned by the men who were arrested at the airport.A search of a house in real de Gandia also uncovered the laboratory where the money was printed.This led to a further twelve arrests.

The paper had come from China and it was ready to use.The National Police and the Banco de espana have both said that if the paper had not been discovered then there could have been 7,000 million euros in high quality fake notes circulating throughout Europe.This is the biggest coup since the euro was launched.This could have caused a major problem with the EU economy.

This investigation began in 2008 and at first it was thought that it related to drugs .A court in Valencia has begun proceedings against the two Spanish nationals detained at the airport and they will be charged with counterfeiting ,money laundering and drug trafficking.