Hyderabad: The Punjagutta police busted an outdated Venezuelan currency exchange racket and nabbed a five-member gang. Police said the gang had procured the currency from a Kerala-based supplier.
The police seized 17 bundles of demonetised Venezuelan currency worth Rs 11.65 lakh. The kingpin of the racket, Javed, hailing from Kerala, is at large. The arrested persons are Ramasagar, K. Karunakar, G. Ranjith Kumar, M. Ravi Chand and N. Naga Malleswar.
West Zone DCP A. Venkateshwar Rao said the Venezuelan currency Cien Bolivares was in use till 2007. But due to the economic crisis in the country the currency was demonetised in 2008 and a new currency Venezuelan Bolívar was introduced.
Ramasagar and Javed are friends and the others in the gang are Ramasagar’s friends. Ramasagar procured the currency from Javed and brought it to Hyderabad. Later, he contacted his friends and hatched a plan to exchange the currency at lesser value. They came to Ameerpet to exchange it with a customer.
“Each note when in use equalled Rs 680 in India. They were planning to exchange 1,700 notes notionally valued at around Rs 11.65 lakh for around Rs 5 lakh,” the DCP said.
The police nabbed the gang and seized the 1,700 notes of demonetised Venezuelan currency. The arrested men were produced in court.
