Gang of 3 busted; watch out for ‘high-quality’ ₹500 fake notes

The crime branch busted a counterfeit currency racket and arrested two persons on Thursday. The mastermind in the case, Leo George, 47, was detained by the Mumbai

The crime branch busted a counterfeit currency racket and arrested two persons on Thursday. The mastermind in the case, Leo George, 47, was detained by the Mumbai crime branch from Idukki district in Kerala on Friday evening.

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The two allegedly printed superior quality fake currency notes of ₹500 at Ulwe in Navi Mumbai. They have been charged under sections 489(A) and 489(B) of the IPC for counterfeiting and circulating forged currency-note, and remanded in police custody until March 11.

On Thursday, Mumbai Police recovered ₹2.95 lakh in fake currency along with other counterfeiting equipment when it raided a location in Navi Mumbai where two men were producing fake ₹500 notes of high quality.

The arrested accused are Vishnu Vijayan, 28, an electronics engineer, and Verkey, 26, who used to work in shipping but had given up his job to make counterfeit notes. Both are originally from Kerala.

Police constable Amit Mahangade of unit nine had received a tip off that two persons were expected to come to Vira Desai Road in Andheri (West) with fake currency. Accordingly, the police laid a trap and arrested Vijayan and Verkey. The police recovered 590 fake notes of ₹500 denomination from them, said senior police inspector Mahesh Desai.

When interrogated, the duo revealed the Navi Mumbai address where they printed the fake currency. In the subsequent raid, the police recovered a laptop, printer, 28 GSM paper with watermark, a metal scale with “RBI” written over it among other equipment.

“We also recovered heat resistant packets in which the notes were placed to give the notes a crisp feel,” said Desai.

The police believe Vijayan and Verkey have already circulated fake notes by mixing them with genuine currency in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and cities outside Maharashtra. According to the police, Vijayan and Verkey were trained by a George who has a past record in counterfeiting. A police officer said on condition of anonymity that the wanted accused was originally in contact Verkey who then introduced him to Vijayan. Vijayan had invested more than ₹10 lakh in the fake currency operation. In July 2018, George was arrested by Kerala Police when they recovered ₹57 lakh in fake currency from him.

He allegedly trained Vijayan and Verkey after being released on bail, said deputy commissioner of police (crime branch) Akbar Pathan.