VIJAYAWADA: Trading of counterfeit currency, with Vijayawada as a transit point between West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Bengaluru, has become rampant in recent times.
In one such case, the city police took a couple into custody at Jawaharlal Nehru Bus Stand in Vijayawada on Saturday night and unearthed fake currency worth Rs 5 lakh of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations.
The arrested was identified as Krishna Murthy Govinda Swamy (56) and his wife Manikichari Rukmini (43) from Karnataka. The former was a carpenter, while Rukmini was into chits and real estate business. According to the police, the couple were mired in financial difficulties and was attracted to the suggestion from their acquaintance Dubai Babu, who told them to earn easy money by exchanging Rs 1 lakh original currency for Rs 5 lakh fake currency.
Babu directed the duo to a person named Razikul Farooq who is a fake currency trader in West Bengal.
Accordingly, the couple went to West Bengal for the exchange of currency with Farooq. From there, they reached Vijayawada on Saturday and were supposed to catch a bus to Bengaluru on Wednesday.
However, to while away time, they went to Padmavathi Ghat on Saturday night. On a tip-off, the counter intelligence officials identified and took the couple into custody. Later, they were shifted to Krishna Lanka police station in the city.
During interrogation, the police found that the currency was being printed in Bangladesh and the trading operations being carried out by a mafia based in West Bengal. The cops also seized fake currency worth Rs 5 lakh in Rs 500 (Rs 4 lakh) and Rs 1,000 (Rs 1 lakh) denominations. The Krishna Lanka police registered cases under 489C and 489B against the couple.
It has come to light that the counterfeit curency is being printed in Bangladesh. Investigation is on.