Visakhapatnam: Cops bust currency racket, 13 held

Visakhapatnam: The Parawada police busted a currency exchange racket and arrested 13 persons of a 14-member gang.

Giving details of the case here on Wednesday, City Police Commissioner R K Meena said the gang was exchanging old currency with new ones for a commission.

In the process, they struck a deal with a businessman P Gurunatha Nooka Raju alias Guna, 57-year-old realtor, for exchange of old currency in huge amount. However, according to the CP, the businessman was dragging his feet on the deal. The gang members, who cannot wait for long, threatened him at a gunpoint to part with the demonetised notes he had.

Following a complaint by the businessman, the police laid a trap and intercepted the vehicle by which the gang members were travelling and nabbed six persons. The gang put up police sticker on the vehicle to avoid the attention of cops.

Based on the information given by the arrested persons, the police took seven more into custody. However, one more in the gang is absconding. Besides, demonetised notes amounting Rs 1 crore, a revolver with six-dummy bullets and three-walky-talkies were recovered from the arrested persons.