The women, identified as Gulshan Jahan and Imran, and their escort Mohammad Rashid coming from Malda in West Bengal were nabbed at the Lucknow railway station with the consignment.
Of the three arrested, two are residents of Rampur and one hails from Moradabad district in Uttar Pradesh. The seized fake notes are in the denomination of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500.
The fake notes are believed to have been smuggled from Bangladesh and being sent to western Uttar Pradesh, CBI sources said.
This is the fourth major such arrest by the CBI's Economic Offences Wing this year, they said, adding that the agency has till now seized FICN with face value of over Rs 29 lakh.
A case has been registered against the trio under Sections 489 B (using as genuine, forged or counterfeit currency) and 489 C (possessing counterfeit currency) of IPC, they added.
