SARLAHI, SEPTEMBER 2

Sarlahi Police have arrested eight individuals, including two Indian nationals, on charges of producing counterfeit currency. The arrests were made along with the seizure of materials used for printing fake notes, including specialized paper and various colored chemicals.

Acting on a special tip-off received by the Sarlahi District Police Office, a joint police team from the Gadhiya Dumaria Area Police Office, Madhubani Police Post, and Armed Police Post (BOP) Madhubani conducted a raid on a shed built for irrigation purposes in Madhubani, Godaita Municipality-12, at 6:00 PM on Saturday. During the operation, the police apprehended eight suspects and confiscated the materials intended for counterfeit note production.

The individuals arrested have been identified as Saugat Thapa Magar (26) from Chandragiri Municipality-15, Vijay Lama (47) from Manahara in Kathmandu Metropolitan City-6, Sanjam Rana Magar (33) from Kupandol, Lalitpur Metropolitan City-1, Amir Khatri (37) from Changunarayan-5 in Bhaktapur, Bishal Rai (37) from Narai Tole, Chandrapur Municipality-6 in Rautahat, Janardhan Singh of Madhubani in Godaita Municipality-12, and Nawal Thakur (49) of Pachataki and Subodh Kumar (40) of Majorganj, both from Sitamarhi District in Bihar, India.

All the arrestees were presented before the District Court Malangawa which extended their custody for 10 days for further investigation, according to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Deepak Shrestha and Spokesperson for the District Police Office, Sarlahi.

According to DSP Shrestha, the suspects were caught red-handed as they attempted to print counterfeit notes inside a room of the shed. Items seized from the scene included note-making paper, 16 liters of various colored chemicals, Rs 85,075 in cash, 10 mobile phones, two Indian-registered motorcycles (BR 06BS 6857 and BR 07 5243), and one Nepal-registered Scorpio vehicle.

They are currently remanded into judicial custody for further investigation and legal action against them has been initiated, DSP Shrestha added.