Five from Africa held with fake US dollars,passports

Delhi Police on Friday claimed to have busted a fake currency racket and arrested five foreign nationals.

As many as 22,000 counterfeit notes of $100 denomination,120 fake passports of Lesotho,Ghana,Botswana,35 passports of other countries,61 fake stamps or seals of Indian and Foreign Immigration Authorities and various embassies were recovered from the accused,police said.

The arrested have been identified as Gabriel Olawale Ajisafe,Sunny Odigie,Enwere Okechukwa Kelvin Enwere,Caroline Cherotich and Augustine John Kwaku Kyare.

According to police,the accused,who hail from Nigeria,Kenya and Ghana,were allegedly involved in printing counterfeit US dollars,making fake passports of African countries,watermarks,Indian visas,residential permits,stamps and seals.

Ashok Chand,Deputy Commissioner of Police,(Crime),said the accused had confessed that the fake currency was being sent to African countries for circulation.

Police said the arrests were made after a deal was struck between the racketeers and a decoy customer for a fake passport with an Indian visa and immigration stamp. The main accused Gabriel Olawale Ajisafe has been living in India for the past 30 years. He was arrested in a NDPS case in 2004 and was released from Tihar Jail in 2008. The counterfeit US dollars were produced using using screen printing technology. The printing was exquisite and they had also reproduced the watermark of the US dollar, said Chand.

(The reporter is a student of the Express Institute of Media Studies,New Delhi)

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