Counterfeiters threatened economy

ONE of Britain's biggest counterfeiting rackets was so successful it threatened to destabilise the national economy, police said yesterday.

The gang behind it flooded Britain and the US with millions in forged sterling and dollar notes from a backstreet printing press.

At the height of their operation, they boasted of producing £276,000 in fake currency a day.

The racket, described by police as the largest and most sophisticated in British criminal history, was led by 37-year-old Greek Cypriot Anatasios Arnaouti, who was jailed for eight years yesterday.

His counterfeit notes were so convincing they were found the world over, including the US, Canada and France. At one point, £1m in fake notes were smuggled into Spain. None has been found.

'This was a highly organised operation that printed millions of pounds worth of counterfeit notes, both sterling and dollars, and it had the potential to seriously undermine the economy,' said Detective Superintendent Nick Lewis of the National Crime Squad.

'We don't know the actual effect it had but every £10 that was introduced into the system harmed the economy to the tune of £10. 'Many small businesses and individuals suffered because once you accept a forged note there is no recompense.

'This investigation has brought down a highly organised and extremely successful criminal organisation. It's the biggest enterprise of its kind we have ever come across.'

Arnaouti, a former graphic designer from Oldham, was jailed at Manchester Crown Court. Members of his gang were sentenced to between two-and-a-half and six-anda-half years.

Judge Bernard Lever told Arnaouti: 'You were the instigator and prime mover and this massive enterprise was your brainchild.' The court was told Arnaouti paid professional printer Philip Raynor £200 a week to run the printing shop in Stockport, Cheshire.

Known as George Woodward Graphics, it claimed to specialise in christening and wedding invitations. The counterfeit money was drawn up on computers before being printed on an £85,000 four-colour printer weighing three tons.

It was then placed in bags for sale to a variety of criminal gangs. They would pay as little as 87p for every £10 note which they would then sell off to other criminal contacts.

When detectives raided the premises in December 2002 they found counterfeit notes 'complete with the silver strip and the water mark'.

Undercover journalists working for the BBC were also on the trail of the counterfeiters. Their evidence was used in the court case.