Toilet Clogs in Geneva Had Unlikely Source

Some $120,000 has gone down the drain in Switzerland—literally. Prosecutors say 500-euro bank notes were found stuffed in a toilet serving a vault containing safe deposit boxes at Geneva's USB bank back in May, per Bloomberg. A few days later, per Reuters, 500-euro notes, which "had probably been cut with scissors," were found clogging toilets at three nearby restaurants, Vincent Derouand of the prosecutor's office tells AFP, via the Local. "We couldn't stop laughing," says an employee at a pizzeria where a bathroom flooded as a result of bills being stuffed in a toilet and sink, per the Telegraph. "Tax evasion is the most likely theory," adds the manager of a nearby cafe.

Derouand says a lawyer representing the two people apparently responsible—local media describe them as two Spanish women—compensated the restaurants for thousands of dollars in plumbing repairs, prompting the withdrawal of a complaint. Unlike in the US, there is no law against destroying bank notes in Switzerland, but police are trying to trace the money anyway. "We're trying to find out where the notes came from and whether a crime has been committed," Derouand tells the BBC. "Clearly it's very surprising." Adds a second rep for the prosecutor's office, per Bloomberg: "There must be something behind this story." (A student allegedly burned money in front of a homeless man.)