Danish authorities have released two Chinese citizens detained for 48 days after attempting to exchange a huge bag of Danish coins mistaken for counterfeit money.
The accused duo were found not guilty and told they were free to go after police and the central bank confirmed that the kroner, which amounted to 32,765 euros, was not fake.
Danish police arrested the Chinese pair, a 28-year-old woman and a 26-year-old man, at the end of August, charging them with being in possession of fake Danish kroner.
The two had been attempting to exchange the massive amounts of damaged coins in a number of Copenhagen banks but were turned away each time. Eventually the police were called in and detained them on remand.
Upon investigation, it was discovered that the coins had been transported to China as part of scrap metal consignment. In China, they were sorted manually before the Chinese company responsible for sorting them sent the pair to Denmark to exchange them.
Danish law states that the central bank has to exchange damaged Danish currency when presented with it.