Bank robbers have made off with close to €1 million (£790,000) from two Italian bank heists in northern Milan and central Bologna.
Thieves broke into the Cariplo Bank in Milan over the Christmas holiday and made off with fresh euro banknotes worth between €500,000 and €1 million, police sources said.
In Bologna, two armed men held up a Carisbo Bank yesterday and got away with more than €77,000 in new bills and around 100 million lire (€51.6 million), also in cash.
Euro banknotes and coins become legal tender on January 1st, but several robberies involving the currency have already been reported in Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands.
In Bologna, the masked robbers broke in through the window of the bank's toilet and forced employees to hand over the cash, which had just been delivered for stocking in automatic cash dispensers.
In Milan, the thieves descended from the roof and disconnected the bank's alarm system before breaking into the bank, where they stole the contents of many safe deposit boxes.
Meanwhile, Dutch authorities have hauled in robbers and thieves who have outstanding sentences to serve their time in order to reduce the risks of hold-ups of stores during the changeover to euro cash.
A spokesman for the Dutch institute of policing (NPI) said yesterday that the move was part of the measures intended to ensure a smooth transition to the euro.
"These criminals have all ready been convicted of hold-ups and robberies and we calculated they posed a risk," said the NPI's Mr Cees den Bakker.
The transportation of euro coins to shops and retailers started in the Netherlands yesterday. In the next three days there, 500 million coins will be delivered to 180,000 stores by 56 trucks and 1,000 delivery vans. Some 4,000 policeman have been called in to safeguard the transports.
Many Dutch shopkeepers are holding large sums of money in their tills with days to go to the euro switchover, Dutch guilders begins to be replaced in the Netherlands by the new European currency.