Forged currency notes racket under probe

by Jayampathy JAYASINGHE

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has launched an investigation into a forged currency notes racket following the arrest of a woman with forged Rs. 1,000 notes last week. After investigations, the Crime branch of the Mount Lavinia police traced the woman who allegedly deposited Rs. 25,000 at a commercial bank in Dehiwela last week of which five Rs. 1,000 notes were said to be forged currency notes, the Police Media Spokesman SSP Prishantha Jayakody told the Sunday Observer.

The matter came to light when the cashier of the bank detected the forged Rs 1,000 notes being circulated in the banks after several days.

Mount Lavinia Police launched an investigation into the fraud following a complaint lodged by the bank cashier last week.

The matter would have gone undetected if not for the alert cashier.

According to Police, the suspect is a 27-year-old woman from Badovita, Dehiwela who admitted that the forged notes were given to her by a man from Kirulapone. Following the revelation, Police officers from the Mount Lavinia Crime branch traced the man who had allegedly given the forged currency notes to the woman.

Both the woman and the man involved in the racket were produced before the Mount Lavinia Magistrate’s Court and remanded until investigations are over.

A number of forged currency notes has been detected from many parts of the country this year, police sources said.