Six suspects in East China's Shandong Province were transferred to the local procuratorate on Tuesday after being caught with over 1 million yuan ($145,300) in counterfeit cash, media reported on Thursday.
The local public security bureau in Zhifu, Yantai, busted a workshop making fake money in a rented house, in addition to three other locations where knockoff notes were processed, where the police seized 50,000 20 yuan banknotes, the Legal Daily reported on Thursday.
The police said the main suspect surnamed Li, 23, sold his printed money by the kilogram in 27 cities across 15 provinces since he started his business in February.
The money was produced by his printers and computers in the rented house and distributed to dealers in other provinces who would then process the bills by adding finishing touches.
Another five of Li's associates were detained in East China's Jiangsu Province, South China's Guangdong Provinces and Central China's Hunan Province after Zhifu police investigated the ring for months.
With his skills, Li had become well-known among counterfeiters since he had good knowledge of graphic design, computer skills and Photoshop.
His counterfeit banknotes were not easy to identify, particularly at night.
The police have uncovered over 4,100 cases related to counterfeit cash in the past six years, seizing more than 2.2 billion yuan in fake bills, the Xinhua News Agency reported in August.
