Two arrested for printing, circulating fake currency

Two men have been arrested here

for printing and circulating fake Indian currency, the police said on Friday.

The accused were earlier part of a similar racket operating in Kerala which was busted in 2018 and in which Malyalam TV actor Surya Sashikumar was arrested, a police official said.

Acting on a tip-off, unit 9 of the city police's crime branch laid a trap near Vira Desai Road in Andheri and intercepted a car on Thursday, he said.

Vishnu Vijayan (28) and Don Warki (26), who were riding in the car, were found to be carrying 590 fake notes of Rs 500, he said.

 

The duo told the police during questioning that they hailed from Kerala.

They had recently arrived in Ulwe in neighbouring Navi Mumbai where they started printing fake notes at house and were trying to find agents to exchange them for genuine currency in the market, they allegedly told the police.

Printing equipment, a laptop and half-printed fake notes were seized from their house, the police official said.

Leo George was the mastermind behind the racket, the duo told the police, he said.

George, with 13 others, began printing fake currency in Kerala in 2018. The racket was busted and those arrested included Surya Sashikumar, her mother and sister.

George has been shown as wanted accused in the present case, the officer added.