A Bin Laden, for those who don’t know it, is the Spanish nickname for a 500-euro note, so no, Osama has not taken advantage of Halloween to come back. This is about a hold up and a forged banknote.

It all starts with a bar in Guadix when the owner goes to the police to say that he has been held up by a man with a knife, who made off with the contents of his till; 420 euros. Using a copy of his denuncia, he makes a claim to his insurance company for the said amount of money.

Now, if there is one thing that the police investigate thoroughly, it is armed robbery, which is rather unfortunate for the bar owner.

Well, the police turned up, questioned him repeatedly, which was when the man probably thought that adding that his son had chased the man in his car would lend credibility to his tale.

Trouble was, his son’s version contradicted his own. In fact, when the police interviewed the son and it became evident that the game was up, he confessed that it was all a lie.

What had happened was that somebody had come into the bar and paid for his meal with a 500-euro note and the 420 euros was the changed handed over.

So, how did the 500-euro note get the Bin Laden nickname? Because, everybody has heard of them but nobody knew where they were all hiding.

(News: Guadix, Altiplano de Granada, Andalucia)