In a well-planned decoy operation, a team from the City Task Force, led by Inspector G.V. Ramana, arrested three persons for allegedly trying to cheat people by selling fake currency here on Wednesday.

The accused, who were identified as Kotamohanti Venkatesh (33), Maddila Laxmi (36) and Rakoti Musalayya (36), were caught by the police near Gandhi Cancer Hospital at MVP Colony. All the three are residents of Venkateswara Colony located in Railway New Colony.

Modus operandi

According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) M. Srinivasulu, the modus operandi was unique.

They would coat a genuine Rs.500 note with black ink or oil and approach gullible customers and tell that the black paper can turn into a genuine currency note by using a certain liquid.

To convince the customers they would do a small demonstration by using the liquid, which basically is hypo solution or sodium thiosulfate, to turn the black ink coated currency note into a clean currency note.

“They would even tell the customer to go to a shop and check the genuineness of the note. Once they feel that the customer had bitten the bait, they would promise to give the black paper three times for every original note that the customer gives. And after going home the customer would realise that the black ink coated paper is nothing but a plain white paper,” said the DCP.

Investigation is on

In Visakhapatnam, they were unable to lure any customer, as the CTF sleuths acted promptly following information. It is learnt that they did cheat a few people in Kakinada, Rajahmundry, Yelamanchili, and Tagarapuvalasa.

The accused were handed over to Three Town Police station (MVP Zone) for further investigation.