B’deshi running fake currency racket arrested in Lucknow | Lucknow News
Lucknow: A Bangladeshi national who discreetly travelled across Indian cities for nearly eight years and ran a foreign-currency fraud racket was arrested in Lucknow on Friday night. He allegedly conned a Lucknow resident of Rs 2 lakh. “The accused, Hasan Sheikh, had sneaked into India through West Bengal and lived in Delhi, Mumbai, and Lucknow while allegedly targeting people with a fake Saudi currency scheme,” said DCP, West Zone, Vishwajeet Srivastava. Srivastava said Hasan, 29, and his associate Umar Sheikh, 26, from Bengal, were arrested near the Daliganj bridge after a tip-off. One Gullu Sonkar had lodged a police complaint on Thursday alleging that two unidentified men took money from him after offering foreign currency at a discounted rate. The accused were later identified as Hasan and his aide. Police recovered 29 Saudi currency notes, Rs 8,100 in cash, two Android phones, four keypad phones, and a cloth-wrapped bundle containing circular paper used to prepare fake “currency packets” from Hasan. “Hasan said he was from Gopalganj district, Bangladesh and crossed border illegally eight years ago. He lived in different parts of Delhi, Mumbai and Lucknow, using the same trap: calling people with promise of foreign currency, taking Indian rupees from them and handing them bundles stuffed with paper with a few real notes on top,” said the DCP. Police said the duo lured victims saying they had Saudi Riyals in bulk and wanted to exchange them discreetly. After the exchange, they would disappear before the victim discovered the bundle was mostly newspaper.Hasan’s criminal history includes a cheating case registered last year at Deonar police station in Mumbai. Wazirganj police are now contacting agencies in West Bengal, Maharashtra, and Delhi to map out his movements and identify more victims. |
