An Iranian national was arrested on charge of possessing counterfeit currency notes by the City Police on Thursday.
Abdul Al-Najadi, of Iranian nationality and staying in Kuwait, was picked up from a leading hotel in the city on Wednesday night after he reportedly paid for a body massage service with fake notes.
He is the operations manager of the Kuwait-based Mawaqaa National Web Solutions Company and came to the city to supervise Webna Web Solutions, the unit started by the company at Cherthala Infopark. He reached the city on tourist visa on June 18 and was staying at a leading hotel here.
The hotel authorities alerted the police after they were suspicious about the currency notes rendered by him. Following this, his room was searched and 32 fake notes of denomination Rs.500 were seized, police said. His personal computer and travel documents were also seized by the police.
During interrogation, he said that he had visited the State twice earlier and was using a mobile phone connection issued in the name of a driver working with a travel service, according to the police.
He was produced before the Ernakulam Judicial First Class Magistrate and remanded for 14 days. The fake currency notes and passport seized from the suspect were also submitted before the court.
