20/01/2009 (Agence Europe) - The European Police Office (Europol) said on 12 January that 34 million counterfeit euro were seized throughout the world in 2008. The Office, which will become an EU agency in 2010, said that European police had dismantled 20 counterfeit workshops and arrested around 400 suspects. The largest operations were in Belgium, the United Kingdom, Colombia, Finland, France, Greece, Italy and Spain. In all, 500,000 counterfeit notes were seized. Europol says that this does not give grounds for great concern, since 12 billion legal euro notes are currently in circulation. In 2007, 600,000 counterfeit notes, with a face value of roughly €50 million, were seized. (B.C./transl.rt)