BETTIAH, Aug. 22 -- A joint team of East Champaran police in coordination with Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) arrested two people involved in fake currency peddling and seized a large cache of counterfeit Indian currency notes in an operation in East Champaran late on Thursday. Lakhaura's station house officer (SHO) Anuj Kumar Singh said that acting on a tip-off about the movement of two men with fake currency, a trap was laid near Uttar Gramin Bank near Lakhaura in a coordination with the SSB and arrested the duo around 11:30pm on Thursday. "When searched, the accused were found carrying 176 counterfeit Rs.500 notes, with a total face value of Rs.88,000," the station house officer (SHO) said. In a statement issued on August 21, East Champaran police identified the arrested men as Sheikh Nur Alam, son of Sheikh Maulazim, and Shekhar Manzoori, son of Safique Mansuri, both residents of Chiraiya. "The source of the consignment and its forward and backward linkages are being ascertained," police said. Frequent seizures of counterfeit currency have been reported from various parts in bordering areas of Bihar since 2024, underscoring a complex network with crores of transactions. Police said many of these cases are linked to international smuggling networks operating along the Indo-Nepal border. In July this year, East Champaran police seized counterfeit currency of the face value of Rs.1.26 crore during raids at multiple locations at Bhopatpur in East Champaran. In May this year, a joint team of Military Intelligence, Patna STF and Haraiya police had arrested counterfeit currency kingpin Sushil Tiwari alias Daya Tiwari, wanted in a Rs.25-lakh fake-note seizure case, from Sitamarhi. Earlier, in November 30, 2025, National Investigation Agency (NIA) had raided three villages called Koyala Belwa, Uchidih and Aarara village under Chakia, Harpur and Adapur police station respectively in East Champaran in search of suspects involved in cyber fraud, fake currency circulation and money laundering cases....