Kosovo police seize 2 million in fake euros

Police said a man from Cameroon and an Albanian citizen were taken into custody on Friday after officers seized a bag containing forged money from their car.

The cash included banknotes with denominations of 500, 200, 100 and 50 euros - adding up to a total face value of 2.1 million euros ($2.2 million).

The car also reportedly contained chemicals used for producing fake money, as well as thousands of sheets of paper.

In a statement, police said it was the biggest seizure of its kind since the end of the 1999 war in Kosovo.

Backed by the United States and major western European countries, the territory declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Since then, the government in Pristina has cracked down on organized crime and corruption in an effort to bring itself closer to European Union membership down the track. However, despite the presence of EU judiciary officials, NATO peacekeepers and police, smuggling remains a serious problem there. 

nm/se (Reuters, AP)