West Bengal man held with fake notes worth Rs 2.44 lakh

A 24-year-old man from West Bengal, who allegedly came to Navi Mumbai with fake currency of face value of Rs2.44 lakh, has been arrested on Saturday.

According to the police, Sayyad Shaikh came to Sanpada to hand over the cash to someone around 12.30pm. Luckily, he was arrested before the other person could come and collect notes from him.

"As soon as we got to know that a suspicious looking man was coming to our area with some fake currency, we laid a trap. Within a few hours our officials spotted a youth with a bag in hand near the station. Upon checking his bag we found the notes and arrested him from the spot," said a police officer from Turbhe MIDC police station.

The accused is now in police custody and the cops are now on the lookout for the person who was supposed to collect the notes from Shaikh.

"The accused had come to Mumbai a couple of months ago and was staying near Andheri station. We are also investigating the case to find out if some more people were involved with him," another police officer said, requesting anonymity.

"A majority of the suspects arrested in fake currency cases come from Malda district of West Bengal. Several police teams from Mumbai and Navi Mumbai have visited that district, but have not been able to find out the places where such fake notes are printed. Even the co-operation of the local police is also not up to the expectation in terms of busting such rackets," said a crime branch officials, on the condition of anonymity.