Fake currency of Rs 1 lakh seized, man arrested

Fake currency with a face value of Rs 1 lakh was seized from a 25-year-old man hailing from West Bengal, police said here today.

The notes were in the denomination of Rs 2,000.

Shafiqueul Sheikh, a resident of Malda in West Bengal, was arrested by Unit-2 of the Mumbai Crime Branch from the Masjid Bunder railway station bridge in South Mumbai yesterday, an official said.

The Crime Branch sleuths had got a tip-off that a person was arriving with fake currency notes, said the official.

Police seized 50 high-quality counterfeit notes of Rs 2,000 from Sheikh, said senior inspector Prashant Raje of Unit-2. "We are investigating their source," he said.

Sheikh was allegedly going to distribute the notes to some persons in the city.

Police are probing his local connections and since when he was involved in this racket, said Raje.

Sheikh was produced before a court which sent him in police custody till April 13, the officer added.