BENGALURU: The sleuths of the National Investigation Agency’s Mumbai Branch, on Tuesday, have
arrested three men at Aluru in Madanayakanahalli on the outskirts of the city and seized Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) of face value of around Rs 7 lakh from their possession.
The arrested are M G Raju, a resident of Vijayapura in Devanahalli, Gangadhar Kolkar of Mudhol in Bagalkot district, and Sajjad Ali of Malda district in West Bengal. “Acting on a credible information that a deal in FICN is likely to take place in Aluru, the NIA team along with the local police conducted a raid at BDA Layout in Aluru and intercepted the three persons. They were found in possession of 217 FICN, all in denomination of `2,000 with the face value of `4.34 lakh,” the NIA said.
“During further follow-up searches on Wednesday, FICNs of the face value of `2.5 lakh was seized from the possession of a woman, who is a resident of Sriramapura in Bengaluru. The total FICN seized in this operation is around `7 lakh,” it added.
“The seized notes are similar to genuine Indian `2,000 notes and it is difficult for a common man to differentiate whether the notes are counterfeit or genuine. It is suspected that the counterfeit notes have been printed and smuggled from across the border,” the release added. A First Information Report is registered in Madanayakanahalli police station in this connection.