CHENNAI: The CB-CID police on Wednesday claimed to have busted an inter-State counterfeit currency racket after arresting two persons based in Chennai.
Police officers said they seized counterfeit currency notes with a face value of `8.9 lakh from them after they smuggled them in from Kolkata by train on Tuesday. Along with the cash, the police also seized a country made gun and two loaded magazines.
The arrested persons were identified as Rafiq (29), a resident of Vyasarpadi and Shahul Hameed, who lives in Erukenchery. “Rafiq is a habitual offender and has two previous cases for smuggling counterfeit currency pending against him. He was earlier detained under Goondas Act but was released in February. Apparently, he want back to the racket,” said Perumal, SP, counterfeit currency wing, CB-CID.
The police said Shahul Hameed was a family friend of Rafiq and had requested a loan from him. Rafiq instead asked him to act as courier to smuggle the fake currency for a cut. “This was his third trip to Kolkata since February. During his earlier trips, he had totally smuggled fake notes totalling to `13.4 lakh and handed it to Rafiq. On a specific tip-off that he was onboard the Coramandal Express with fake notes on Tuesday, we followed him. Our team identified him as he got down at the Central station. We trailed him up to Erukanchery and arrested him when he handed over the amount to Rafiq,” the officer said.
A country-made pistol, which police said Hamid had smuggled from Kolkata on Tuesday, was also seized from him. On Tuesday, Hamid had smuggled fake notes amounting to `7.9 lakh from Kolkata. Further checks in Rafiq’s house yielded fake notes amounting to `1 lakh.
“Rafiq had contacts with fake currency racketeers based along the Bangladesh border and used the links to source the notes. It seems he managed to circulate fake notes with a face value of up to `12.4 lakh since February,” said an officer in the investigation team.