Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) in denominations of 500 and 1000, amounting to Rs. 5.62 lakh, were seized from a 49-year-old man by a police patrol team in Flower Bazaar on Monday night.
The police suspect the notes came into the city from Bangalore and have been in circulation for six months.
According to the Flower Bazaar police, a team patrolling the Amman Koil Street area on Monday night noticed two men behaving in a suspicious manner. When intercepted, the duo attempted to flee but the police team nabbed one of the men who was later identified as Ashok Kumar from Rajasthan, a plastic toys trader residing on Vadamaalai Street in Flower Bazaar.
“Ashok was carrying counterfeit currency of up to Rs. 2 lakh. Inspection of his house unearthed an additional Rs. 3.62 lakh in fake currency and Rs. 7 lakh of original Indian currency. Ashok had received the fake currency from a dealer in Bangalore and had been circulating the notes in Chennai for the last six months,” said C. Sridhar, joint commissioner of police, north.
According to the police, the notes were of good quality and are suspected to have been smuggled in from Malda, West Bengal, to be circulated in Chennai and other major cities in the country.
The police have launched a hunt for Ashok’s accomplice who had escaped, and the dealer in Bangalore. Their identities have been withheld.
