A Romanian man was arrested Friday at the Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut after being found with counterfeit money and suspected stolen jewelry, officials announced.
Lebanese Internal Security Forces recovered $108,200 USD and 350 euros in counterfeit cash from the traveler, who was planning to fly to Romania from Beirut.
It is not clear why he was in Lebanon, officials added.
The 34-year-old man, identified only by the initials V.L., also had $50,000 worth of suspected stolen jewelry in his bag.
Security forces said the jewelry, mostly diamond, belonged to a woman who lost the items. Investigators returned the jewelry to the woman after the recovery.
Photos posted to the Lebanese Internal Security Forces Facebook page show several bags of money and the suspect’s Romanian passport.
Lebanese security officials are still investigating the case.
According to the U.S. Department of Treasury, an estimated $70 million in counterfeit bills are in global circulation.
U.S. officials said counterfeit money can be identified by holding the bill up to a light and looking for a holograph of the face image.
The bill should also reveal a thin vertical strip containing text that spells out the bill’s denomination.