Fake currency notes worth Rs 38.38 lakh were seized from two Bangladeshi nationals who entered the country posing as a couple.

Mohammed Samiruddin, 51, and Anjuman Samir, 45, were arrested by a revenue intelligence team on Tuesday afternoon after they got off a bus on Marquis Street. They had planned to check into a hotel in the locality.

Police said the duo, who had set off from Dhaka on a bus and entered India through the Petrapole border, had been hired by a Bangladeshi gang that has been pumping fake notes into the Indian market.

“Samiruddin, who claimed to be a Dhaka-based trader, and Anjuman have been working for the gang for some years and had visited India with fake notes in the past, too. Their arrest followed a tip-off and our men had been keeping an eye on them from Petrapole,” said an officer of the directorate of revenue intelligence.

The fake notes seized from the duo were in the denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000. “They were carrying 2,703 notes of Rs 500 denomination and 2,487 notes of Rs 1,000 denomination,” the officer added. The notes were hidden in the linings of bags.

The two would meet their local contacts, whom they handed over the fake notes, in a city hotel. Each contact was paid on the basis of number of notes he had circulated. Officers suspect the notes originated from Karachi.

“The gang had several other carriers. We are trying to track them down,” said an officer.