Three arrested with fake currency notes of Rs 3.24 lakh face value

A police team from Saravanampatty station, who were on patrol duty late on Saturday night, noticed two persons under suspicious circumstances near a petrol bunk in Maniakarampalayam area and picked them for inquiry.

Inquiries revealed that the duo, Khidar Mohammed (66) from Vadavalli and Mahendran (39) from Kavundampalayam were involved in circulating fake currency. They were in possession of fake Rs 200 notes.

Acting on their information, the police arrested another member of their gang, Surya Kumar (30) from Thiruvalluvar Nagar on Thadagam Road. Following a search in his house, the police seized fake currency notes in the denomination of Rs 100, Rs 200, Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 with a total face value of Rs 3.24 lakh.

The police said Khidar Mohammed, who is an expert in making counterfeit currency, had trained Surya Kumar, who runs a computer centre in Kanuvai area. Khidar Mohammed is a habitual offender and was arrested before on a similar offence of trying to circulate fake currency. Investigations by the police revealed that Surya Kumar began printing counterfeit notes since last month.

“They have taken colour xerox of the original notes and fixed reflective stripes in the place of hologram stripes using lamination machines. The notes appear like original ones and could be easily passed off among public. They had printed the counterfeit currencies in bulk and were preparing to circulate them, but were caught before,” the police said.

The police said they are also inquiring if anyone else was part of their gang and further investigations are on.