HYDERABAD: Police busted a racket in manufacturing of fake coins by arresting five persons and recovered coin manufacturing equipment and raw materials. The five-member gang are said to have manufactured and circulated nearly 30,000 fake Rs.5 coins in a month. Police said the gang made a profit of Rs.3 on each fake coin.
According to police, kingpin of the racket, Mohd Arshad Jalal Ahmed Ansari alias Arshad is a native of Mumbai who completed his BCom from the Sharjah Indian School in Dubai.
Arshad migrated to Dubai as his father worked as a public relations officer in the Dubai airport. From 2003, he worked as a supervisor in Dubai airport but was caught in October 2009 by police for preparing false bank documents and jailed for nine months.
"After his arrest, Arshad lost his job and his visa was cancelled in August 2010, forcing him to come back to Mumbai.
He used to frequently visit Hyderabad and hire a Meru cab driven by Mohd Mehraj, a resident of Vattepally,'' Task Force deputy commissioner of police, VB Kamalasan Reddy said.
About four months back, Mehraj arranged a rental flat at Happy Home Apartments in Rajendranagar following a request by Arshad. "Arshad came to the city and sought Mehraj's help in setting up a Rs.5 coin manufacturing unit. He asked Mehraj to arrange moulding workers and the latter contacted his friends, Mohd Faraz, Moha Haji and Mohd Majeed, all residents of Vattepally for the work. The trio were working as moulders in various units at Murgichowk,'' Kamalasan Reddy said. Initially, the trio refused to work for Arshad but he persuaded them by luring with promise of handsome payment.
"Arshad gave Rs.25,000 each to the trio and also promised to pay Rs.10,000 per month,'' the DCP said. Arshad and Mehraj brought the required machinery- a buffing machine, wooden stands and others from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh for Rs.25,000 and installed them at a rented house in Chandrayangutta.
Later, they procured raw material like brass, polishing powder, sand, coal and others for preparing coins.
According to police, the gang used to mix sand and clay and place it in two iron moulding boxes as a five-rupee coin is made in two-part mould. "They used a five-rupee coin for the case and placed it in the sand mixture and then fill it with liquid brass. After three or four hours, they removed the case and gave good finishing to the coin,'' Kamalasan Reddy said adding that the gang was preparing 200 five-rupee coins per every kg of brass. The fake coins were very similar to genuine ones, police said.
The gang was manufacturing 700-800 coins daily and prepared 30,000 coins in a month. Arshad and Mehraj circulated them in super markets and sweet shops at Banjara Hills and Toli Chowki.
Recently, they shifted the manufacturing unit to Falaknuma.
West Zone Task Force sleuths raided the unit and seized some fake coins, the manufacturing machinery, raw materials and Rs.1.41 lakh cash. The accused were handed over to Falaknuma police for further action.