Four arrested with Rs. 1.35 lakh fake currency

A fake currency racket was busted with the arrest of four people carrying money of the face value of R1.35 lakh, allegedly sourced from Pakistan, the crime branch said on Wednesday.

A fake currency racket was busted with the arrest of four people carrying money of the face value of Rs. 1.35 lakh, allegedly sourced from Pakistan, the crime branch said on Wednesday.

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The accused were identified as Prem Chander Parsad, 33, Iliyas, 47, Baleshwar Ram, 34 and Ravi Kumar Sharma, 32. They were arrested on Tuesday on a tip-off, said Sanjay Kumar Jain, DCP (crime).

"We had received a tip that a gang led by Prem is engaged in smuggling fake Indian currency notes from a neighbouring country into India. A decoy customer struck a deal with the gang for delivery of R10,000 in fake currency on payment of R6,500," said DCP Jain.

During the operation, Prasad, Ram and Ilyas were arrested from Nand Nagari and led police to Sharma.

This was the first time that separate sheets containing fake security silver bromide threads were recovered from a gang of counterfeiters, police said.

The accused admitted they obtained the currency from one Shamim, a Pakistani national. Proceeds from the sale of fake currency notes were recovered from Prem's house. "They used to get two kinds of fake notes: one with the security thread and others without it. The ones with the security thread embedded cost R550 for a 1,000 rupee note while those without the security thread cost R510 for a 100 rupee note," DCP Jain said.