24 March,2010 11:42 AM IST | | Kaumudi Gurjar
There seems to be a Pakistani connect to the fake currency notes racket busted last week by the Wanowrie police. Police sources said they had reason to believe the fake notes found with the Irani students arrested in the case were printed in Pakistan and brought to the city via Iran.
The case has now been handed over to the Crime Branch.
Tip of iceberg
A police official speaking on condition of anonymity said the discoveries so far could be just the tip of the iceberg.
The police had last week seized Rs 40,000 at a Kondhwa flat and arrested Mansoor Lalbaksh Bibak (28), Monirahmad Alam Kalkaly (35) and Mohammed Farough Damani Fard (35), all from Iran. Later, the police recovered another Rs 9,000 in denominations of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 from an FC Road garment shop. The CCTV footage showed the arrested three had been to the store.
The Irani students were arrested after a tip-off from an Axis Bank branch manager. The students were planning to deposit the notes in the bank. Bibak's interrogation is believed to have revealed that Kalkaly and Fard had received the notes from a private foreign exchange in Iran and that they were cheated by the exchange.
