Fake currency racket busted, 4 held

Hyderabad Police has claimed to have busted a counterfeit currency racket with the arrest of four students, including one from Bangladesh, and seized fake notes with a face value of Rs 3.81 lakh allegedly from them. The arrested gang members -- Md Al Masrekin alias Sathy from Bangladesh, Razibul Hoque, Asif Iqbal and Minarul Islam, all students from different districts in West Bengal -- were allegedly engaged in exchanging of counterfeit currency in Hyderabad, a police release said. The Bangladeshi student, along with the three other students, formed a gang and were allegedly circulating counterfeit currency in India with the help of prime accused Sofikul Islam and Shorif, both also from West Bengal, who are absconding, it said. Sofikul Islam and Shorif supplied fake currency, the release said. Sathy came to India on a tourist visa in 2009 for higher studies and resided in West Bengal. He later obtained a student visa which is valid up to 2016. In July this year, the gang members circulated counterfeit currency with a face value of Rs 6 lakhs, the release said. In September, the accused went to Visakhapatnam with fake currency of Rs 6 lakhs and exchanged half of the amount in the market, it said. Later, they went to Vijayawada and exchanged the remaining fake currency in the market and shared the genuine money received as per the agreement, the release said. On November 4, the four came to Hyderabad with fake currency of Rs 5 lakhs face value received from Sofikul Islam and Shorif and shifted to a rented house in Bapu Nagar here and informed the landlord that they had come for studies, police said. "After circulating counterfeit currency, two members of the gang again went back to their native place and came back to Hyderabad with more fake currency having face value of Rs 5 lakh. The gang members exchanged fake currency in the market and secured genuine currency," police said. Purchasing a pen worth Rs 50 by one of the gang members Razibul Hoque (with fake currency) at a shop in Koti area here on November 23 led to the arrest of all the four accused, the release said. A hunt has been launched to nab Sofikul Islam and Shorif, it said. Police also seized 381 fake currency notes in Rs 1,000 domination from them, it added.