Mylapore (Chennai), Dec 29 (ANI): Two female tourists hailing from Tehran were arrested for possessing fake Indian currency while shopping at a lifestyle store in Chennai on Tuesday.

The two women, incidentally mother and daughter and identified as Mortazavi Asraf and Asraf Soloni, are on a month long visit to India.

Reportedly holding tourist visas, they arrived in the country on December 2 and visited many places.

In the upmarket Mylapore area, they were purchasing clothes at a store when the shop owner smelt a rat on the veracity of the notes and informed the police.

Soon the police personnel arrived on the scene and found fake currency notes worth Rs. 23000 all in the denomination of500 rupees.

“Two females from abroad said to be from Tehran, Iran, traded to exchange the counterfeit currency in this shop. We rushed immediately and conducted a search and found out that they were possessing fake currency of about 23000 rupees. We consulted the bank officials who also confirmed the currency to be fake,” said Jawahar, Inspector of Police, Mylapore Police Station.

Mortazavi Asraf (62) and her daughter Asraf Soloni (25) were produced in the city court and were remanded to judicial custody till January 12.

The passports of both the ladies have been confiscated.

Several cases of fake currency, being smuggled into India have been reported form several parts of the country. (ANI)