Biggest ever counterfeit currency racket bared

COLOMBO: The CID has busted the biggest ever counterfeit foreign currency racket in Sri Lanka when its officers arrested two persons including an Indian national following the detection of gunny bags full of forged Indian currency notes from a partially constructed house in Mattakkuliya.

According to the CID on December 9 at about 4.00 p.m. Wellawatte Police informed the CID that a money changer in Colombo 6 had identified 75 notes of Indian Rs. 500 denomination presented by a customer as counterfeits and the customer had fled leaving his NIC when the cashier contacted police over the telephone.

On receipt of this information, officers traced the person through the address given in the NIC. The person stated that the notes were given to him by another person working as a mason who too fled with him when the notes were identified as counterfeit.

The other person was traced by the CID and on revelations by him, 15,900 counterfeit Indian notes of Rs. 1,000 denomination and 21,400 counterfeit notes of Rs. 500 denomination were recovered from the house.

The notes were in 100 bundles packed into five gunny bags.