Romanian police found a large amount of fake money hidden in the improvised house of a homeless family in Oradea, Western Romania. The EUR 300,000, in counterfeit bills, was hidden in a bucket and probably came from the counterfeit money factory of the Italian mafia recently discovered in the same city, reports local Digi24.

The alert was triggered by a man who was selling barbeque products at an event organized in the city, when a man tried to pay the food with a EUR 50 banknote. The salesman, who had heard about the counterfeit money factory recently busted in Oradea, announced the police.

After being questioned by the police, the homeless man admitted he had EUR 300,000 hidden in his improvised house. He had found the money in a garbage disposal unit and stashed it in a bucket. That is where the police found the money when they came to search the place. The man’s relatives tried to destroy the evidence, according to Digi24.

Investigators issued a recommendation to local shops to be very careful when somebody tries to pay purchases with banknotes of EUR 50 and EUR 100.

Romanian prosecutors from the Directorate for Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) discovered a counterfeit money factory in Oradea, in late-September this year. Following searches, the prosecutors held several persons who were part of a mafia clan from Naples, Italy, and also confiscated EUR 13 million in fake bills.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com