Five arrested for possessing Afghani

The Jamnagar police arrested five people in Rajkot on Sunday for possessing 595 Afghani notes.

Senior police officers said the accused have been arrested on grounds of suspicion, adding that the key accused, one Hanif, who had allegedly supplied the notes to the five, is absconding.

Though the notes, printed in 1939, are of no commercial value because of the post-Taliban regime change in Afghanistan, top district police officers have intimated the Directorate of Enforcement and the Intelligence Bureau.

Rajkot IGP Manoj Shashidharan said: “It is an issue of national security. We are trying to find out how the consignment reached India and what could be the the motive behind it.”

The police said Avesh Memon, an antique dealer from Rajkot had bought the notes from Hanif, paying Rs 1,700 for a bundle of 100 notes. Memon gave the notes to his son, Akram (20), who in turn handed them over to his acquaintances, Jamnagar-based Hemendra Kansara (53), his nephew Dharmendra and Rajkot-based MBA student Sandeep Baldha (24). Akram, Hemendra, Dharmendra and Sandeep were arrested following raids at Hemendra’s residence. Memon was arrested later from Rajkot.




Nirav Bhagat