[Note: undated footage]

A 34-year-old cop working in an elite organised crime unit has been arrested and accused of forging an astonishing EUR 4 million worth of EUR 2 coins.

The suspect, named only as Sh.D., has been identified as an officer in North Macedonia's Department for Combating Organised and Serious Crime.

Investigators say he had been running a massive forgery racket across the Balkans from basements and warehouses for two years.

Video footage of police searches shows one location with high-powered presses that stamped out the coins from blank metal slugs.
The clip shows bags of finished and part-finished coins which seem indistinguishable from the real thing.

Mastermind Sh.D. was arrested in Pristina, Kosovo, on 4th August after a joint operation between their security forces and North Macedonia's Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The EU’s justice agency Eurojust said he is suspected of "producing around two million of fake EUR 2 coins which were about to be circulated into the Kosovar economy."

North Macedonian Ministry of Internal Affairs said in a statement: "Searches were conducted at three locations, where the following items were found and seized: two machines with compressors for pressing, six metal stamps for producing two-euro coins, six bags with semi-finished coin products, and one bag with finished counterfeit coins.

"The seized items will be handed over for further forensic analysis."
The Ministry of the Interior's internal control is investigating whether there are other employees of the ministry who were engaged in the racket.

[Note: no sound]