Police on Friday busted a racket involved in the circulation of fake Indian currency notes (FICNs) and seized contraband currencies with a face value of over ₹3.80 lakh.

Three Malda residents have been arrested in this connection.

Sources said a team led by Upendranath Roy, a sub-inspector at the Kaliachak police station, conducted a raid and caught Akhtarul Jaman alias Raj, Aresh Ali and Kamiruddin Momin.

All the three are residents of Kaliachak and were arrested at Idgaha More in Baliadanga off NH-12.

The police searched the trio and seized 768 fake notes of ₹500 denomination from them. “Altogether, fake notes of ₹3.84 lakh were seized from them,” said a police source.

During interrogation, the trio purportedly told the police that they had got the FICNs from Mithuk Sheikh and Ajit Ali, who are from Kharibona, a village under the jurisdiction of Golapganj investigation centre of Kaliachak police station, by paying ₹1.30 lakh in cash.

“They also said they had come to collect the FICNs for Suraj Saha, a resident of Katihar in Bihar, and had plans to circulate the fake currencies clandestinely in different locations. It is evident that they are associated with a racket involved in the circulation of FICNs,” the source said.

The police have registered a case.