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The Bulgarian nationals had made five purchases of goods and one attempted to make purchases using counterfeit banknotes of 50 euro in shops and companies in Komotini, Alexandroupoli and Xanthi.

Three Bulgarian citizens had made purchases with counterfeit banknotes in the region of Thrace over the past few days, and had even tried to hit with their car a police officer who had detected them in Komotini.

The case regards three Bulgarian nationals, two aged 29 and one 28, who were apprehended after a short chase on Sunday afternoon. The charges against them include distribution of counterfeit banknotes, attempted grievous bodily harm and breach of the law on weapons.

On Sunday at noon, the perpetrators had tried to buy something from a stall in Komotini, using a counterfeit banknote of 50 euro. The stall owner however realized their intentions and they fled.

After the incident was reported, the police immediately launched an operation to search for the three Bulgarian citizens and found them in Komotini the same day, again at noon. The men got into a car and the police officers tried to check them.

Seeing the uniformed officers the car driver turned on the engine and drove at one of the police officers who managed to avoid the collision, and then subsequently the perpetrators fled in an unknown direction.

The police continued the thorough investigation and a few hours later found the Bulgarian nationals at the Makaza-Nimfeia border checkpoint while they were trying to leave Greece. The three detainees were taken to the police station in Komotini.

The subsequent police investigation makes it clear that the three perpetrators tried to shop from the stall in the city using counterfeit euro banknotes.

The investigation also reveals that the three Bulgarian men had made five purchases of goods on 2, 15 and 16 November 2014 from shops and companies in Komotini, Alexandroupoli and Xanthi, using counterfeit banknotes of 50 euro.

The police have found on the three perpetrators and in their car, and seized, the following:

1 pepper spray

The sum of 1,160 euro and 44 Bulgarian levs

Receipts for goods from shops

Various goods purchased

Clothes

1 pair of gloves

4 mobile phones

While fleeing to Bulgaria, the three Bulgarian nationals threw on the road 6 cut counterfeit 50 euro, which the police found and seized.

The car and five counterfeit banknotes of 50 euro used by the Bulgarians to make purchases were seized as well.

The detainees will be brought to the prosecutor of the Rhodope region and the police station in Komotini will continue the investigation to establish the possible involvement of the offenders in other similar cases.