26/08/2009 (Agence Europe) - Spanish police announced on Friday 21 August that it had seized counterfeit €500 notes with a face value of almost €9 million in Gandia in the province of Valencia, a record seizure in the EU. A print shop was discovered and police seized almost completed counterfeit notes with a face value of €8 million and notes worth almost €850,000 ready for distribution. The European Police Office says in a press release that there was material and equipment for the production of more than 660 million counterfeit euro. More than 2 tons of high quality paper, fake documents, weapons, ammunition and 70 mobile phones were also confiscated. In all, 16 people were arrested. The case began at the end of 2008, when authorities started focusing on a drug trafficking group operating in the port of Valencia. (B.C./transl.rt)