Mangaluru: Demonetized currency worth Rs 1.92 crore confiscated!

Mangaluru: Mangaluru police apprehended three persons and seized demonetized currency totaling Rs. 1.92 crores from them, sources said.

The accused have been identified as Zubair Hamabba (52) resident of Kannur in Mangaluru, Deepak Kumar (32) a resident of Veeranagar, Padil, and Abdul Nasir (40) a resident of Jarinagar, Bajpe.

Acting on a credible tipoff, the police stopped the Toyota Innova car the trio was traveling in near Canara School on Nehru Avenue. On inspection, the currency notes of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 face value in demonetized currency were recovered from the two bags kept in the boot of the car, police said.

Mangaluru police commissioner N Shashi Kumar said that notes were suspected to be sourced from village areas around the Shivamogga-Chitradurga border. The accused wanted to cheat by selling them to the public by promising that the notes could be exchanged at the banks at 50 percent of their face value, he added.

The Compol warned the public not to fall for such claims. He informed that the storage and transport of denotified currency notes is a punishable offense. “As per the Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Act, 2017, a person is prohibited from holding, transferring, or receiving the denotified banknotes,” he said.

Under the law, any person holding the specified banknotes will be punishable with a fine which may extend to Rs 10,000, or five times the value of notes possessed, whichever is higher.

A case has been registered at the Barke police station in this regard.