Police seize 4 million fake 1 pound coins from freight container
In the biggest ever haul of its kind; more than four million fake £1 coins have been seized by the police.
Most of the four million pound coins were found in a 40ft freight container, with a smaller, much smaller amount recovered from three addresses in Enfield, Hertfordshire and Essex.
Of the four million fake coins, only 107,000 had been completed by being stamped meaning they were ready for circulation. Therefore, approximately four million of the coins were blank, having not yet been stamped.
Three men, aged 52, 43 and 27 have been arrested in connection with the counterfeit coins in what police have described as an ‘industrial scale’ counterfeiting operation.
The three men, who were arrested on Thursday night, were being held at a police station in North London on suspicion of a range of offences including production of counterfeit monies, money laundering and fraud.
Detective Inspector Bruce South of the Mewt’s project Team said,
“This seizure is a significant blow to the network behind it; individuals clearly intent on undermining the UK monetary system by producing counterfeit currency on an industrial scale. It is yet another example of the work this team is carrying out on a daily basis to tackle organised criminal networks.”
There are currently around 1.5 billion pound coins in circulation. However, it is estimated that as much as 3% of these coins are fakes, accounting to £45 million worth of counterfeit pound coins.
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