Busting a gang that dealt in counterfeit notes, the crime branch officials have arrested three people and seized fake currency worth over Rs 3 lakh from them.
Busting a gang that dealt in counterfeit notes, the crime branch officials have arrested three people and seized fake currency worth over Rs 3 lakh from them.
The officials of crime branch Unit 3, headed by police inspector Sunil Mane acting on a tip, laid a trap near Deepak Cinema in Lower Parel. They then arrested three young men and seized bundles of fake currency notes from them.
“These people had brought the notes to the city the same day itself and were going to circulate it when they were nabbed,” said a senior officer. “They have a strong network of other people dealing in the same and within a few hours all notes would have been out in the market with no trace of who circulated it first,” he added.
The accused, identified as Barek Shaikh (36), Saifuddin Momin (33) and Musloddin Momin (44), hail from West Bengal and had come to the city the day they were arrested. “Preliminary probe has revealed that the counterfeit notes were manufactured in West Bengal. We are trying to get more details about the location and are hopeful of seizing more fake currency once we determine the location,” he said.
The police seized 200 notes of denomination Rs 1,000 and the remaining notes of denomination Rs 500. After the accused were arrested, they said that they had on reaching circulated two notes of Rs 1,000, which were also tracked and seized. A total of currency in denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 amounting to Rs 3,02,500 were seized from the arrested accused.
Sources reveal that the accused had a strong operation base in other cities as well. “We are contacting other states and city police team to see if they are wanted in other cases. We are also looking for other people involved with the gang,” said the senior officer.
