Flyer from Dubai held, fake notes of Rs 24 lakh face value

A flyer from Dubai was arrested outside the city's international airport on Sunday and "high quality" fake currency notes of nearly Rs 24 lakh face value were seized from him, police said.

The man, Javed Ghulam Nabi Sheikh (36), a resident of Kalwa in Thane district, had managed to come out of the airport with the notes hidden in the luggage, police said.

The crime branch is trying to find out if these notes were brought into India for "terror funding".

"Central agencies had tipped off the Mumbai crime branch that a man is arriving in Mumbai from Dubai with several fake Indian currency notes. Accordingly, a trap was laid near a bus stop outside Terminal-II of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, and he was nabbed," a police official said.

"During his check, it was found that he was carrying 1,193 high quality notes of Rs 2000 denomination with the face value of Rs 23.86 lakh," he said, adding that the notes must have gone unnoticed during the checks inside the airport.

During his interrogation, the accused told the police that the fake notes are routed from Pakistan via Dubai, the official said, adding, "The crime branch suspects that these notes fake notes could be used for terror funding."