Meth wastes money

last updated 8 January 2015

Berlin

Euro notes are disintegrating in people's wallets because they've been contaminated with crystal meth, German police said this week. Since June, bemused Germans have reported more than 1,700 cases of crumbling 50 euro and 20 euro bills, and Bundesbank investigators were initially baffled. But police forensic scientist Rainer Wenzel said this week that the crumbling notes had been used to snort meth, a homemade amphetamine popular in the U.S. but relatively new to Germany. "When a contaminated note comes into contact with human sweat, an aggressive acid is produced," Wenzel said. "If the note is in a wallet with a wad of other notes, the corrosion will spread to all of them."