The five men, in their mid 30s, were nabbed from Asuran, about 300 km from here, Wednesday.
"All five are residents of Gorakhpur district and were entrusted with the task of circulating fake currency notes in Uttar Pradesh, particularly in the eastern region," Inspector K.P. Singh told reporters in Gorakhpur.
"Counterfeit currency notes having face value of around Rs.50,000 were recovered from their possession. Preliminary investigation reveals that the five got the illegal consignment from their Mumbai associates, who in turn received the fake notes from Pakistan," Singh said.
According to the police, the men have confessed to being involved in the illegal trade for more than five years. They traded counterfeit currency notes having face value of Rs.1,000 for Rs.300 original currency.
Published 06 May 2010, 07:01 IST