134 Billion Dollars worth of Fake US Treasury Bonds in a Suitcase

On June 20th, Jiji Press, a Japanese media outlet carried a report stating that two people carrying Japanese passports were arrested in Italy on June 3rd attempting to smuggle 134 billion dollars worth of US government securities out of Italy. The US Treasury Department spokesman has verified that the securities are fakes.

Today, YTN (South Korean version of CNN) reported that an Italian news paper Il Messaggero's carried a story on June 22nd that the Italian investigators are working with three theories surrounding the two men who were arrested.

The Italian investigators believe the men could be: 1) terrorists attempting to purchase WMD; 2) Japanese currency smugglers; or 3) North Korean agents.

The Il Messaggero also reported that the fake bonds were not of high quality.

I thought this was a very interesting news that's been gone fairly unnoticed. Below is the Jiji Press report that I mentioned at the beginning of this post.

U.S. Bonds Seized From "Japanese" in Italy Found Fake (Jiji Press)

Washington -- U.S. government securities seized in Ital yearly this month from two people who declared themselves as Japanese have been found to be fake, a U.S. Treasury Department spokesman said Friday.

The two people, in their 50s, were detained by Italy's financial police near the border with Switzerland on June 3 after being caught attempting to sneak bearer securities with a combined face value of 134 billion dollars out of Italy by hiding the securities in their baggage.

But the Treasury spokesman said the department has issued 105 million dollars in bearer securities.

The case has been drawing attention because of the duo's alleged attempt to smuggle out such a large amount of fake securities certificates in a sloppy way. There is even speculation that the two might be North Korean agents.

An official of U.S. law-enforcement authorities told Jiji Press that the United States is keeping in touch with Italy's financial police and prosecutors regarding the case at request of the Italian side. But the official declined to disclose details.

According to the official, it is still being investigated whether the two people, who were carrying Japanese passports, are actually Japanese citizens.

The official declined comment on any possible involvement of North Korea in the case.