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Three men are due on trial later this month over allegations they tried to pass counterfeit €100 notes in several pubs on the Granada coast, with prosecutors seeking six years in prison for each of them.
The case is listed before the First Section of the Provincial Court of Granada on 25 November. The public prosecutor says the defendants should also be fined €600 each over alleged offences of possessing counterfeit currency and continuous fraud.
According to the prosecution file, the events date back to November 2002, when the three men are said to have agreed to put fake banknotes into circulation, mainly €100 notes, by using them to pay for drinks in nightlife venues.
In one bar in the early hours of 13 November, they allegedly tried to pay for a bottle of rum with a €500 note. A counterfeit detector in the venue exposed it as fake, so they ended up paying with genuine money instead.
About an hour later, in another pub, they are said to have paid for three rounds of drinks with three counterfeit €100 notes. The owner did not notice at first, but rejected a fourth note when it was presented for payment. The other three notes remained in circulation.
Later that afternoon, one of the defendants allegedly asked a waiter in a different pub for change for a €100 note. After handing over the coins, the owner realised the note was false and called the police.
Officers from the Policía Nacional attended the venue, seized the counterfeit note and identified the suspect. Early the following morning, police returned to the area, identified the three men and found three more fake €100 notes during a search of one of them.
The owner of the pub the men had visited also told officers that they had tried to deceive him.
