Feds target international counterfeiting ring

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal authorities say 13 people have been indicted in connection with an alleged counterfeiting ring that involved fake bills manufactured in Israel being circulated in the United States.

An indictment issued Thursday charges 10 people, including four Israelis, with racketeering and conspiring to commit various counterfeiting offenses. Three other defendants were charged with participating in the conspiracy.

Authorities claim the ring manufactured more than $77 million in fake $100 bills over more than a decade.

Officials say the Secret Service first began detecting fake bills believed to be manufactured in Israel in 1999, and that the defendants set up a highly sophisticated domestic printing plant in New Jersey earlier this year.

Arrest and search warrants were executed in May and June in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Florida.

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