Fake currency seized in train

Visakhapatnam: Officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Visakhapatnam regional unit, on Saturday intercepted two passengers travelling in East Coast Express train from Howrah to Hyderabad near Visakhapatnam and seized Rs 10,20,000 fake currency notes.

1. During the interrogation, the accused stated that the fake currency is procured from a person who hails from Bangladesh
2. Currency is handed over to them at Farakka, which is close to Malda in West Bengal
3. Farakka is a hub of fake currency, the accused says

The officials said that two passengers were found to be carrying fake currency in five bundles of Rs 2,000 denominations. The bundles were packed in newspaper and were kept in a pillow in their luggage bag. During the interrogation, the accused stated that the fake currency was procured from a person in Bangladesh and the fake currency was handed over to them at Farakka, which is close to Malda in West Bengal. Farakka is a hub of fake currency, the accused said.

The accused, who hails from Bengaluru, claimed that they intended to exchange the fake currency during the forthcoming elections in Karnataka as it would be easy for them to exchange the notes during the elections.

One of the two accused has a criminal back ground and was earlier arrested in connection with a kidnap case in Bengaluru. He is presently out on bail. Cases were registered against the both accused under the provisions of Customs Act, 1962. The fake currency notes were seized under the Customs Act, 1962 and further investigation is on.

Meanwhile, the police sources said that it was a major haul of seizure of the fake currency in Visakhkapatnam region in the recent past and most of the people used to prefer train route to smuggle the fake currency.