Three men involved in a conspiracy to supply over £12 million of counterfeit banknotes must give up the real money they earned from their crimes.

Phillip Brown, John Evans and Nick Winter were all jailed following an investigation in 2019 by detectives from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate.

As part of the officers' enquiries they carried out the largest face-value seizure of fake currency in UK history following a raid at a printing press in Beckenham.

It is believed the defendants profited from their conspiracy by selling the counterfeit money to other criminals, with the Bank of England having removed notes with a total face value of over £1.9 million from UK circulation.

An investigation into the group's activities began when the Bank of England identified a new counterfeit paper £20 note had entered general circulation.

The note appeared to have been produced using the type of specialist equipment that would normally be associated with a company printing large volumes of magazines or leaflets.

Enquiries established parts and materials associated with the production of fake currency on a commercial scale had been ordered and were linked to a printing press owned by Winter in Kent House Lane, Beckenham.

A search warrant was carried out and inside officers found Brown and another man surrounded by printing equipment and large piles of counterfeit £20 notes, later confirmed as having a total face value of £5.25 million.

In the months that followed, further large amounts of counterfeit currency believed to have been printed by the group continued to be discovered.

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Men who printed £12 million fake banknotes in Kent told to pay back money from their crime(https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2023-06-24/men-who-printed-12-million-fake-banknotes-told-to-pay-back-crime-money)