US agents, Latvian police bust fake dollar factory

RIGA: The United States Secret Service and Latvian police said Thursday they had busted a factory counterfeiting US dollars in Riga, seizing US$3.5 million (RM13.60 million) in fake currency.
Lasting 16 months, their joint investigation "resulted in seven arrests," said Christopher Rohde, the US Secret Service's representative for the Baltic States.
"This was a very sophisticated plant with very high capability of pumping out a lot of counterfeit," he told reporters in Riga.
The US Secret Service has responsibility for tackling dollar counterfeiting worldwide.
Peteris Bauska, chief of the Latvian state police's economic crimes department, said the factory busted on April 15 was located in Riga "in a business space, not in a basement or some secret location".
He added Europol had taken part in the operation but declined to disclose details including the nationalities of those detained. — AFP