Police arrested two men in northern Greece yesterday in connection with the running of a counterfeit operation that apparently printed fake money with a regular office printer.

Authorities were tipped off by local shop owners about the men, aged 31 and 17, who had gone shopping in four stores in Alexandroupolis, northeastern Greece.

Police traced them down but only nabbed them after a car chase that took place on the Orestiada-Thessaloniki highway.

A search of their car found 101 fake 50-euro notes and about 1,000 euros in legal cash tender.

Police in Thessaloniki, who were immediately notified, conducted a search of their homes and found two multipurpose Cannon color printers, ink, 26 pages of printed 20-euro notes and A4 printing paper.