A fake currency note dealer from Bengal was arrested from Gaya railway station on Tuesday.

Economic Offences Unit officers seized Indian currency notes with a face value of Rs 4.75 lakh from him. With the confiscation, the total value of seized fake Indian currency notes in the state since January has gone up to Rs 30 lakh. So far, 26 people have been arrested for their alleged involvement in circulation of counterfeit notes in the state.

Additional director-general (headquarters) Ravinder Kumar said: “One Chhedu Mandal, a resident of Malda in Bengal, has been arrested. Fake currency notes, with a face value of Rs 4.75 lakh, were recovered from his possession.”

He said the Economic Offences Unit officers apprehended Mandal soon after he alighted from a train at Gaya railway station and was about to deliver the consignment to a resident.

The notes were of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denomination, he added.

Kumar said a case under sections 489 (A), 489 (B) and 489 (C) of the Indian Penal Code has been lodged against Mandal with the Economic Offences Unit police station in Patna.

Mandal is a native Chaipara in Malda district of Bengal.

He said Malda has, of late, emerged as a nerve centre for the fake currency note dealers in eastern India.

Giving details of the seizure, the additional director-general (headquarters) said counterfeit notes with a face value of Rs 49.96 lakh were seized in 2012 and 53 people were arrested.

“In 2011, fake notes with a face value of Rs 22.54 lakh were recovered and 52 people were arrested,” he added.

Similarly, fake notes with a face value of Rs 18.69 lakh were seized and 72 people were apprehended in 2010.

The police had seized fake notes with a face value of Rs 13.07 lakh and arrested 67 people in 2009.

A year prior to that, 112 people were arrested and notes with a face value of Rs 16.81 lakh were seized.