Note racket busted; bills, machines seized

KOCHI: The police on Friday busted a counterfeit racket that has been printing fake currency notes and circulating them in central Kerala. Fake currencies and a printing machine were seized during a raid at a house in Mulanthuruthy. The arrested are Joshy, 51, of Thuravoor, Jinto, 37, of Nayathodu, Jose, 48, of Kanjoor and Ajith, 26, of Mulanthuruthy. The police said following a tipoff received by Ernakulam Rural Police Chief Vivek Kumar, a team led by two DySP-ranked officers raided the houses of the accused persons.

“The gang was into the making of fake currency for the past several months. They sold the printed fake currency in bulk. For fake currencies that have a face value of Rs 50,000, they charged Rs 25,000. We raided the houses at night to stop them from escaping,” a police officer said. The raid at the residence of Joshy resulted in the seizure of fake notes having a face value of Rs 50,000. Police suspect that more persons are involved in the racket.