He said the factory was raided Wednesday night. He identified the operator only by his family name of Lin. The 61-year-old suspect admitted he had been minting the bogus coins for over a decade, the CIB spokesman said. Altogether 500,000 fake coins, with a total face value of NT$25 million, have been circulated, the spokesman added. CIB agents seized a large number of finished and unfinished coins at the illegal mint.

The CIB spokesman said Lin was able to put the fake coins in circulation at groceries, convenience stores and supermarkets where there are no coin-verification machines.