Going out for an all-nighter pub crawl can be expensive, unless you're using forged bank notes, which was allegedly the case of three men on a wild, party streak in Motril back in 2022.

In a sense, it was expensive for them because the consequential ‘hangover’ is a possible 6-year prison sentence for one man and his two friends, if found guilty.

Things come unstuck for him around two in the morning when he tried to pay for a bottle of rum in a pub with a 500-euro note, (known affectionally in Spain as a Bin Laden). The owner of the establishment used a device to check if the bill was counterfeit, so the suspects had to reach into their wallets and settle the bill with real currency.

Did they decide that it was a bit risky and packed it in? Of course not! They went to another pub nearby but this time they had better luck at first. They filled their glasses three times and got it for free by allegedly paying with a forged 100-euro note, according to the public prosecutor. Motivate by success, they kept ordering rounds which raised the bar tender’s suspicions, when they tried to pay him with another 100-euro note.

They were told to keep the Mickey Mouse banknote and come up with the real thing, which they did. The bartender returned the forged note to them.

Things went south when one of the accused asked a barman for change for the cigarette machine with a 100-euro note, which he received but the barman had seconds thoughts and asked for the change back. The accused refused so the barman called the Policía Nacional.

The officers arrived and immediately confiscated the 100-euro note so that it could be authenticated back at the station and the man’s ID details taken.

Undeterred, the following morning the three defendants allegedly returned to their old ways but by then the police had confirmed that the confiscated note was fake and were out looking for the suspects. They caught them coming out of a bar, searched them and found more fake 100-euro notes in the jacket pocket of one of them.

The officers questioned the barowner of the establishment that they had just come out of and he told them that the accused had tried to pass off a forged banknote.

Editorial comment: sometimes you just can’t help thinking that petty criminals are not the brightest tool in the shed. If you’re going to pass off forged notes for drinks, don’t do it with a 500-euro note, for Christ’s sake! Print Mickey-Mouse 10s, 20s or even a 50.

(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

Keywords: Forged Banknotes, 500-Euro Note, Pub Crawl, Change, Cigarette Machine

news, andalucia, granada, costa tropical, motril, forged banknotes, 500-euro note, pub crawl, change, cigarette machine