Switzerland investigating euro bills found clogging toilets

Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Prosecutors in Switzerland are investigating mysterious instances involving thousands of euro bills turning up in toilets.

The first bundle of 500 euro bills turned up several months ago in a bathroom near a UBS Group AG bank vault at a branch in Geneva.

Days later even more banknotes appeared inside toilets at nearby restaurants causing damage that required expensive repairs to unclog the pipes.

Police have collected tens of thousands of euros -- many apparently cut with scissors -- from the pipes and are working to determine where the mystery bills came from.

"We are not so interested in the motive but we want to be sure of the origin of the money," Vincent Derouand, of the Geneva prosecutor's office, told Sky News.

Derouand added neither throwing away the bills, nor clogging the toilet are considered crimes and there was no reason to believe the money was obtained nefariously.