An Odd Bust of Bolivars in Brazil

  • Brazil officials seize lockbox with seal of Iraqi central bank
  • Box contained 11,765 bills of worthless Venezuelan bolivars
A lockbox with Iraq’s central bank seal was found with over 11,000 worthless Bolivars.Source: Brazil’s Federal Revenue Service Contraband Repression Division
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

When Brazilian authorities in Rio de Janeiro cut the lock on a steel box ostensibly belonging to Iraq’s central bank, they found a stash of cash not worth the paper it’s printed on.

“We imagined we would find Iraqi money,” police chief Fabricio Oliveira, who participated in the bust, said in an interview. “Instead, to our surprise, we found Venezuelan money, which is a currency no longer worth anything.”