GUANGZHOU: Police in Guangdong Province this weekend announced the smashing of two fake banknote production bases, along with the seizure of more than 77 million (US$9.63 million) in counterfeit currency.

Ten suspects were arrested during the raids, which took place in the provincial capital and Meizhou, a city in the east of the province. Also seized was sophisticated equipment including computers, scanners and pattern plates.

"It is the largest fake banknote production crackdown in Guangdong Province since the beginning of the year," said Xia Jiexiao, a police officer from Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Public Security

Xia believed the crackdown has dealt a heavy blow to fake banknote production and trafficking in the area, which borders Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.

Despite the achievement, Guangdong police would keep up the fight against fake banknotes trafficking and other economic crimes, added Xia.

Tan Shumei, a China Construction Bank worker in Guangzhou's Yuexiu District, said the crackdown on the two fake money producers would help healthy financial operations in the province.

"Fake banknotes have become an increasing problem for banks in Guangzhou in recent years," she told China Daily yesterday.

The illegal operation in Guangzhou first became known at the beginning of the year. City and provincial police forces launched a joint operation, and on May 17, after four months of surveillance, they swooped on an apartment in the basement of a residential building. Fake notes worth 30 million yuan (US$3.75 million) were seized, along with five suspects.

After a similar surveillance operation, on April 25 this year more than 100 police raided a building in the city of Meizhou, capturing 47 million yuan (US$5.88 million) and five suspects.

It is the first time such a case has occurred in the city.