Lithuanians held over fake euros

Lithuanians held over fake euros

Eleven men have been charged in Lithuania with masterminding what is believed to be Europe's biggest ever euro counterfeiting operation.

Police arrested the men on Saturday in a raid on a printing works in Kaunas, Lithuania's second largest city.

Forged banknotes worth at least 9m euros ($11.6m) were seized.

Investigators said the notes were of such high quality that they could not be distinguished from legitimate currency with the naked eye.

'Enormous profits'

The notes seized amount to the total of fake European currency destroyed in the first three months of this year.

Officials believe secret printing presses in Lithuania operated seven days a week, perhaps for several years.

"Profits were enormous," Lithuanian police chief Vytautas Grigaravicius told the AFP news agency.

Many officials suspect other fake euros have already been smuggled into the euro zone and are in circulation, says the BBC's Stephen Paulikas in Vilnius.

Lithuania joined the European Union in May.

It has not yet adopted the euro but is expected to do so by 2006.

Euro notes and coins were introduced in most of western Europe nearly three years ago.