Two men have been convicted of forging sackfuls of counterfeit £20 notes in the bedroom of a rented flat in the west end of Glasgow.

Tony Howland, 35, was making the counterfeit money using ink jet printers and putting a water mark and thread on them similar to those on genuine notes.

Over a two-month period he and his co-accused Victor Robertson were responsible for producing £160,00 worth of fake £20 notes.

When police raided the flat at Queens Crescent, Glasgow, they found notes, which were produced 12 to a sheet of paper, in various stages of production.

Police also found a printed note estimating it would take four days to print, glue, dry and cut £56,000 worth of the fake £20s.

Howland, an out-of-work printer and graphic designer, admitted counterfeiting notes and having the equipment and materials necessary to produce the fakes.

Robertson, 41, of Mavisbank Gardens, Glasgow, was convicted of being involved in the counterfeit operation by making and passing notes between July 18 and September 16, 2013.

The High Court in Glasgow heard that Howland who came to Glasgow from London was churning out tens of thousands of pounds worth of Royal Bank of Scotland forgeries using three ink jet printers, a laminator, Bible paper and special glue.

The enterprise was run from the flat he was renting. In a room he called his office police found the printers and £55,080 of fake notes - many of them lying on the floor drying.

Around £160,000in notes was produced, although £20,000 was of such poor quality it was destroyed. Police estimate that around £73,000 of the fake notes were taken from the flat and distributed.

In mid September an order was received for £50,000 in counterfeit notes and a deadline given as 2pm on September 15, 2013.

Advocate depute Bill MacVicar, prosecuting, said: " Mr Howland was unable to complete the order and left the flat and fled to London where he contacted the police."

Howland claimed that he thought he was coming to Scotland to manufacture novelty scratch cards, but instead was forced under duress to make counterfeit money.

But Mr MacVicar said: "The Crown does not accept that he was forced into becoming involved in the making of the money from the start."

Judge Norman Ritchie QC remanded both men in custody and deferred sentence on them until October for background reports.

Advocate Neil Beardmore, representing Howland, said: "My client's position is that he was forced to do this."

The Crown disputes this and a proof in mitigation will be held later this year.