More arrests likely in counterfeit currency racket

: The West Zone police, probing the international counterfeit currency racket, which reportedly had links with operatives in Pakistan and Bangladesh, are trying to apprehend more accused in the case.

Nagendra, who was accused in the fake currency case, met Akula Venkata Durga Seshubabu in a jail. Seshubabu, a dismissed railway employee, was imprisoned for allegedly deceiving youth by promising jobs in South Central Railway (SCR).

Nagendra introduced his friend Satyanarayana Reddy and two smugglers— Saddam Hussain and Hassan Ali of West Bengal to Seshubabu. The other accused, Mahamood, a native of Malda on Indo-Bangla borders, supplied counterfeit currency to Saddam Hussain and Hassan Ali.

Police have arrested 13 persons in the case till date, including Seshubabu, two natives of West Bengal and ten others of Andhra Pradesh. However, Mahamood, Nagendra and Satyanarayana Reddy are at large.

“This is a big racket in which many people from Bangladesh and Pakistan were involved. We suspect that Mahamood had escaped to Bangladesh after the arrest of the gang. Nagendra and Satyanarayana Reddy will be arrested soon,” said a senior police officer.

“Once we arrest Mahamood, we can reveal the origins of the racket,” the officer said.