Big print run for €500 note, the crook's best friend

[emad]

Times
By Patrick Hosking



NINETY-FIVE billion euros’ worth (£67 billion) of €500 banknotes are to be printed next year amid soaring demand for the high-value bills, the banknote of choice among international criminals.

The European Central Bank has ordered 190 million of the bills to be printed next year, up from 104 million this year and none last year, citing expected high demand. Drug traffickers and other criminals — as well as legitimate users — are thought to be conducting business increasingly in euros rather than dollars, attracted in particular by the currency’s high-value bills.

High-denomination notes are a useful tool for drug smugglers. In October a drug mule travelling from Spain to Colombia was found to have about €150,000 in notes in his stomach.

A briefcase filled with €500 notes is about seven times as valuable as one filled with the highest-denomination US note, the $100 bill. The highest-value British note, the £50, is worth even less. Increasing acceptance of the euro in countries outside the eurozone and its growing value against the dollar have also increased its appeal.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,174-1420491,00.html

[Turbineguy]

1. US Dollar

no longer preferred by narcos? So that's why the dollar is collapsing...

[seriousstan]

3. It's the denomination that is desirable, not the currency.

"A briefcase filled with €500 notes is about seven times as valuable as one filled with the highest-denomination US note, the $100 bill. The highest-value British note, the £50, is worth even less."

That is the reason the U.S. no longer prints high denomination bills.

[saigon68]

2. Nice.

The "Free Market" at work

[amazona]

4. oh boo hoo we should do the same

It is ridiculous that our highest denomination bill is the $100. You can't even fill a basket with groceries for $100 any more. I don't know why this nation needs to be run for the supposed inconvenience of the drug cartels. We need at the very least a print run of $500 and a new $1000 bill would be nice also.

But I'm not holding my breath.

In this, as in so much else, the European Union is leaving us behind.

[Penance]

7. When's the last time you needed a $100 bill?

I don't think I've used one in at least 5 years. The biggest denomination I use on a regular basis are $20 bills. If what I'm buying is more than $25 or $30, I put it on plastic. I don't typically even carry $100 in total on me in case I get mugged.

[SKKY]

5. In Spain they call these "Bin Ladens"...

...They exist, but noone ever sees them. Gotta love the Spanish humor.

[jdj]

6. that is so funny,

they could just as easily call them W's or Cheneys.