Associated Press MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippine National Bureau of Investigation said Wednesday it has seized counterfeit U.S. Treasurys with a total face value of $ 2.53 trillion from a suburban Manila warehouse.
Agents were tipped off that fake U.S. currency was in the warehouse in Paranaque, but a search last Friday yielded instead 33 metal boxes containing the counterfeit Treasury notes, said bureau spokesman Alexander Carbonel.
Twelve boxes contained a total of 2,780 notes in $100 million denominations; the other 21 contained 4,494 notes in $500 million denominations.
No arrests were made, but the bureau was seeking two men identified as W. F. Grubl and Keith P. Leblanc who allegedly paid storage fees for the boxes.
A customs officer with the U.S. Embassy in Manila determined that the notes were counterfeit, Mr. Carbonel said.
The notes were similar to more than 100 counterfeit Treasury notes with dates in the 1930s that were seized at the Manila airport in May. U.S. Customs Attache David Meisner said the U.S. government never produced such notes.
Several other major caches of counterfeit U.S. Treasurys have been found in the Philippines over the last two years.
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