2 arrested with fake currency notes in Murshidabad

Kolkata: Murshidabad district police have nabbed two persons and seized Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) worth Rs 7 lakh from Farakka.

According to police, on Thursday night sleuths got a tip-off that a good number of FICN denominations will be smuggled through Farakka. After a while police came to know from sources that two persons from south India whose whereabouts seemed suspicious were staying in a hotel near New Farakka crossing. Based on the information, on the wee hours of Friday, police raided the room number 33 of the hotel and detained two residents of Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh. During search sleuths found 350 FICN of Rs 2000 denomination.

Immediately, the duo identified as Raghunand Naidu and Rajesh Dewala was arrested. Later, during interrogation they said that they were acting as a carrier of FICN. A person from Baishnabnagar in Malda had delivered the FICNs to them on Thursday. They were about to leave for Chittoor on Saturday.

They also confessed that previously they tried to get hold of FICN but failed to get right contact. Sleuths suspect that a racket in Andhra Pradesh is trying to smuggle in FICN there. The Superintendent of Police (SP) of Murshidabad, Sri Mukesh said: "The rate of FICN is Rs 1 lakh for FICN worth Rs 2 lakh. We are trying to identify the person who came from Malda to deliver the FICNs."

According to police, last year Murshidabad District Police had nabbed 84 persons and seized FICN worth Rs 1 crore 28 lakh. This year till Friday, 10 persons have been arrested and approximately Rs 10.28 lakh have been seized.

Malda for long has a prominent hub for counterfeit currency trade.

According to an estimate by Bengal CID, this year, various security agencies have seized counterfeit currencies worth Rs 1.75 crore from across the country and every seizure had the familiar Malda link.