Bangalore cops arrest Sri Lankan national with fake notes

The police on Monday arrested two persons of an international racket on charges of circulating counterfeit currency notes in the city even as their three aides managed to escape.

One of the arrested persons is a resident of Sri Lanka. The police said that two of the three persons who managed to escape are also from Sri Lanka; the third is a native of Tamil Nadu. Joint commissioner of police (crime-east), B Dayanand, said the arrested persons have been identified as Mohammed Hafeez Aneef, 37, a resident of Colombo, Sri Lanka, and Vijay Kumar, 25, of Tamil Nadu.

The police arrested them on Monday evening after getting a tip-off that some persons had tendered counterfeit currency notes at shops on Brigade Road . At 5pm, the accused bought a mobile phone from a shop on Brigade Road . As they ‘paid’ for the phone with fake notes, the police team swung into action and arrested the duo, even as three miscreants succeeded in fleeing.

The police seized the mobile phone the accused had bought and fake currency notes of face value of Rs80,000. The duo told the police that they had come to Bangalore with fake notes of face value of Rs1.5 lakh.

The police said the five had come to Bangalore from Tamil Nadu in two cars. Both the cars have been seized. The duo were produced in the court on Tuesday evening. A police team comprising inspector HS Jagadeesh, sub-inspector Jagadish and constables Shivakumar, Kumaraswamy and Ultafulla Khan nabbed the duo.