The death toll from the bizarre crash of a Bolivian military aircraft loaded with $62 million in cash has reached 22 and may go higher. The C-130 was attempting to land at El Alto International Airport last Saturday when it plowed into vehicles on an adjacent road. One crew member was among the dead and 29 others, presumably including the rest of the crew, were injured. Most of the casualties were in vehicles destroyed by the plane. The response to the accident was complicated by the millions of banknotes blowing around the crash scene.
Hundreds of people got wind of the windfall and it’s estimated that about 30% of the Bolivian currency, which were being transported from outside the country to the Central Bank of Bolivia, were gathered up by people who flooded the site, dodging flaming wreckage and bodies as they scooped up the cash. They may not get to enjoy it, however. “Banknotes with confirmed serial numbers will be considered counterfeit,” said the bank’s governor, David Espinoza. More than 500 troops and 100 police officers did their best to secure the cash but only managed to recover a third of it. They started bonfires to destroy it at the scene.
428.565.390 in Bolivian currency would likely be a rather large number or banknotes which may or may not be traceable. Of course, discouraging people from collecting the cash by declaring the money counterfit is a good first step, but I doubt anyone other than government run banks will check the serial numbers.
The government has already published a list of now-bogus notes (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivian_boliviano#Banknotes). Evidently new notes, as all fall into several dozen numerical ranges and all end with the letter “B”.
Considering that anyone accepting one of these notes is at high risk of losing its value; I’d suspect that there would be large scale private inspections – not unlike how many stores (especially small ones) routinely use hand-held or countertop counterfeit detectors.
I had not conducted further research into the origin or purpose of the money and upon reading the article above again, found no reference to it.
Makes sense that declaring this money counterfit is fairly simple then.
I’m sorry, but why so much cash in an aircraft…and where was it going?
Honest question.
Read before remarking.
New banknotes, heading for a central bank.
It is fairly common for smaller countries to contract the printing of their currencies to larger countries that have better printing technology. I imagine that this was a shipment of new bills fresh from the printer. Since the serial numbers were all sequential and documented, they basically have no value until the central bank accepts them and releases them for circulation. Otherwise, the government can simply declare them counterfeit, as they have done. Perhaps the easiest way to recover most of the missing bills would be to offer a small reward to anyone who turns in the bills. Easier than chasing millions in counterfeit money.
To heck with the 3rd world currency…the world lost a beloved C-130! The Four Fans of Freedom…RIP.
Having spent a lot of time driving one, seeing one all busted up makes me sad