Colombian Police Seize $1.6 Million in Fake $50 Bills, Arresting 5 in Caldono Raid
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jul 16
Colombian Police Seize $1.6 Million in Fake $50 Bills, Arresting 5 in Caldono Raid
1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jul 16
Summary
$1.6 million in counterfeit U.S. currency was seized in a pre-dawn Oct. 14, 2023 raid on a suspected printing site near Caldono, where officers captured five suspects and one escaped.
Four army platoons escorted investigators to the cannabis-farm compound because the area is contested by the ELN insurgency and Clan del Golfo, making a routine counterfeiting raid too risky.
Inside the house, officers found uncut sheets of fake $50 bills, printing plates, inks and finishing equipment, then smashed the roughly 1,000-pound lithographic press on site for court-documented evidence.
Colombia remains a major source of sophisticated fake dollars that often circulate across Latin America—especially dollarized economies such as Ecuador, El Salvador and Panama—before victims discover the loss at banks.
Investigators say counterfeiting, once curbed by joint Colombian-U.S. efforts, has resurged with better technology and can help finance crimes including drug smuggling, human trafficking and terrorism.