Italian customs find $134 billion in suitcase

Gingervitis

Windfall for Italy?: Customs Finds $134 Billion in a Suitcase - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

Must have been Blofeld's courier!

The mad thing is that if it's real, the Italian authorities could seize up to 40 per cent!

If only that happened in Ireland...

easyeason3

Some people are steeped in luck.

Morlar

Fcuk me !!!

TheZohanS

That's one big suitcase...

Morlar

The swiss must be kicking themselves.

drunkmonkey

if it happend in Ireland it would probably cost us 135 billion to set up a quango just to decide what we should do with it....

Mrmoe

holy sh*t in a batcave thats a lot of money.

Mmcd

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,630158,00.html
Hmmm?

Jet Black

They have 134billion and cant afford a good suitcase to put them in? Id say its fraud.

Dennis the Stone

Just a couple of gents cashing in the Nazi Gold they built up with the help of the Swiss during the war.

Morlar

Bono - taking not paying taxes to a whole new level.

minidazzler

What the fcuk were they doing on a fcuking train?

Morlar

minidazzler wrote: »

What the fcuk were they doing on a fcuking train?

Trying extra fcuking hard not to get mugged.

Run_to_da_hills

Are you sure its not lire they found?

Then it would be f**k all

Clown Shoes

It´s probably the lads from Zimbabwe just trying to buy a ticket home...

BrokenArrows

seriously taking all that in one trip is just stupid.

take many trips with small amounts.

Saibh

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Are you sure its not lire they found?

Then it would be f**k all

Think the lira was worth more than the lire

sceptre

Mmcd wrote: »

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,630158,00.html
Hmmm?

Er, that's what the section of the magazine is called. The connection you're presumably humorously implying is, er, humorous at best even being charitable:) The word was used for hundreds of years before they made that silly movie.

Sharpshooter

Gingervitis wrote: »

Windfall for Italy?: Customs Finds $134 Billion in a Suitcase - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

Must have been Blofeld's courier!

The mad thing is that if it's real, the Italian authorities could seize up to 40 per cent!

If only that happened in Ireland...

Too right, but hey it's Ireland, all we've ever found is a man in a suitcase.

Morlar

sceptre wrote: »

Er, that's what the section of the magazine is called. The connection you're presumably humorously implying is, er, humorous at best even being charitable:) The word was used for hundreds of years before they made that silly movie.

I have read the zeitgeist section of De Speigel before - it's not a jokey part of the website at all. Course that doesn't mean that these bonds are genuine.

MoominPapa

134 billion? Atsa spicy meatballa

Goodluck2me

BrokenArrows wrote: »

seriously taking all that in one trip is just stupid.

take many trips with small amounts.

maybe they have a trillion and thats what they were doing?

sceptre

Morlar wrote: »

I have read the zeitgeist section of De Speigel before - it's not a jokey part of the website at all. Course that doesn't mean that these bonds are genuine.

Oh, they could well be genuine, the story certainly is - as you know "zeitgeist" has nothing to do with being funny (I can see how you read my post that way but take another look).

Anyone else think that Berlusconi would rather do something silly with the money if they're genuine and the government confiscates their allowable chunk? I hear he counts money in hookerhours rather than in euros.

drunkmonkey

The US Government cashed 2 of these a few years ago to the tune of 100 billion. There was 250 odd of them issued in the early 60's . These ones seem to have been stored in switzerland and the Germans believe there real.

There seems to be a pungent smell of Nwo / Nazi Gold / North Korea off this story...

I bet there real, and if they are you can be as sure as hell we'll never know the truth..

Saibh

They should have done it in style - hire a mini cooper

sceptre

drunkmonkey wrote: »

There seems to be a pungent smell of Nwo / Nazi Gold / North Korea off this story...

I bet there real, and if they are you can be as sure as hell we'll never know the truth..

Indeed. If the CT forum doesn't run with this within the day then we need better conspiracy theorists.

Morlar

drunkmonkey wrote: »

The US Government cashed 2 of these a few years ago to the tune of 100 billion. There was 250 odd of them issued in the early 60's . These ones seem to have been stored in switzerland and the Germans believe there real.

There seems to be a pungent smell of Nwo / Nazi Gold / North Korea off this story...

Apparently the courier was wearing one of these ;

http://images7.cafepress.com/product/156886707v6_350x350_Front.jpg

4zn76tysfajdxp

Mask wrote: »

They have 134billion and cant afford a good suitcase to put them in? Id say its fraud.

It's becuase they don't throw money away on fancy suitcases and the likes that they have all that money in the first place.

citizen_p

According to their statement, the men's luggage included 249 government bonds worth $500 million and 10 so-called Kennedy bonds, each worth a billion dollars.

gotta get me some of those

Jet Black

Dawson Icy Gang wrote: »

It's becuase they don't throw money away on fancy suitcases and the likes that they have all that money in the first place.

Heres what they could have got. They could have bought two of these, when they where caught the could have just hopped on it and got away.
Then instead of 'Italian customs find 134billion in suitcase' as thread title it would of been 'Italian customs loose two men who escape on suitcases'

And they would have had $133,999,999,200 left over:D

4zn76tysfajdxp

Mask wrote: »

Heres what they could have got. They could have bought two of these, when they where caught the could have just hopped on it and got away.
Then instead of 'Italian customs find 134billion in suitcase' as thread title it would of been 'Italian customs loose two men who escape on suitcases'

And they would have had $133,999,999,200 left over:D

partyatmygaff

Why would anyone with that much money be travelling by train, with that amount of money they could atleast hire a plane.

Smells like fraud tbh.

martinr5232

And everyone thaught that nice Nigerian man was trying to scam you.

These two lads must have taken a chance and sent their bank details.

So next time you get an email from a nigerian priest/government worker you know its safe to send your bank details.

x in the city

drunkmonkey wrote: »

if it happend in Ireland it would probably cost us 135 billion to set up a quango just to decide what we should do with it....

Harney & Cowen would spend it on reconstruction surgery and spunk it all

KevinVonSpiel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alves_dos_Reis

Earlier version of the same story...

kowloon

They were on the way to a secret monkey purchase.

CreepingDeath

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Why would anyone with that much money be travelling by train..

Because they would X-ray the suitcase in the airport seems the obvious answer.

Those 2 Japs are going to get a disciplinary warning from HR about losing all that money.

darconio

sceptre wrote: »

Oh, they could well be genuine, the story certainly is - as you know "zeitgeist" has nothing to do with being funny (I can see how you read my post that way but take another look).

Anyone else think that Berlusconi would rather do something silly with the money if they're genuine and the government confiscates their allowable chunk? I hear he counts money in hookerhours rather than in euros.

He already did : not a single italian newspaper reported the news of the confiscation

Poor Uncle Tom

Best game of monopoly ever...

Cuddlesworth

If it is real then those two men are most likely very very dead. They just don't know it yet.

General Zod

One million US dollars in 100$ bills is 10kg in weight.

so, one billion, being one thousand million, would weigh 10,000 KG.

134 billion would be 1,340,000kg, or 1,340 tonnes.

darconio

Here a picture of the confiscated bonds

http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/tag/134-billion/

Victor

http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/tag/134-billion/

Update: Italy’s financial police said they asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to authenticate $134 billion worth of undeclared U.S. government bonds found in the false bottom of a suitcase carried by two Japanese travelers attempting to cross into Switzerland. A determination is expected within a few days.

Cue the Americans saying they are false and pocketing the money.

murfie

Thats a unreal amount of money, its not reported in the US media yet. Why one would wonder?

Capt'n Midnight

where they bearer bonds ?

Pete4779

murfie wrote: »

Thats a unreal amount of money, its not reported in the US media yet. Why one would wonder?

If it came to be that Japan or else two Japanese citizens on behalf of North Korea or somewhere was trying to offload US$134 billion on the sly, then it's because someone has the idea that the dollar is going to tank and they want out. That would cause a lot of trouble for the US$, which is already in trouble and devaluing by the week.

If they are fake, then it's a great story anyway. They are hardly going to turn up expecting cash for them though, right?

Saibh

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

where they bearer bonds ?

According to the link in post below,

249 bonds of the ‘Federal Reserve‘ American in the nominal value of 500 million each, and 10 ‘ bond Kennedy ‘ of the nominal value of $ 1 billion each, in addition to what is described as very original banking documentation

.

darconio wrote: »

Here a picture of the confiscated bonds

http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/tag/134-billion/

FearDark

I once found a suitcase, there was a dead cat inside, pfft some people have all the luck.

CreepingDeath

General Zod wrote: »

One million US dollars in 100$ bills is 10kg in weight.

Which coincidentally is the Ryan Air bag weight limit.

Quint

darconio wrote: »

Here a picture of the confiscated bonds

http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/tag/134-billion/

Jasus, $134 billion isn't very big in bond form. They were unlucky to get caught.

Anyone know how the hell do you "cash" a bond? If you wanted to spend that money what would you do? A $500m or $1billion are such massive denominations, how do they work? Even if they were legit businessmen, can you stick them in a bank and the US has to honour it like a check?

drunkmonkey

Quint wrote: »

Jasus, $134 billion isn't very big in bond form. They were unlucky to get caught.

Anyone know how the hell do you "cash" a bond? If you wanted to spend that money what would you do? A $500m or $1billion are such massive denominations, how do they work? Even if they were legit businessmen, can you stick them in a bank and the US has to honour it like a check?

the treasury department pay up on them.

This money was one of 2 things, money to fund a war or somebody was depositing 134 billion worth of debt. It's one way to get it off the books