(MENAFN - Muscat Daily) Money exchange firms in the sultanate have issued alerts to their respective branches after the detention of two Omani nationals in Kerala, India, for possessing fake Indian currency. None of the exchanges Muscat Daily spoke to are reported to have come across cases of fake currency.
Ravindra Naidu, general manager, Mustafa Sultan Exchange, told Muscat Daily his company has issued a circular to all its branches asking staff to be vigilant.
''A circular has been issued to all our branches to be extra vigilant. We have asked our staff to scrutinise currency notes carefully before receiving or issuing them,'' he said. Another firm. Oman UAE Exchange also recently sent out a memo to all its managers to keep a watch.
''For the past week, we have been training our Omani staff in detecting fake currency notes. We have also asked them to be more careful and use detecting machines while counting notes,'' an official working at Oman UAE Exchange old Muscat Daily.
Sibi Johnson, an officer at Modern Exchange said that his firm is on its guard after receiving a circular from Central Bank of Oman on this issue. The official added, ''No such case has been reported in our firm so far.''
On Thursday, police in the southern Indian state of Kerala detained an Omani national for possessing eight fake Indian currency notes of R1,000. He is reported to have bought these notes from a money exchange at Muscat International Airport before leaving for India.
This was the second such incident in the last ten days as another Omani national is still in detention in Kerala for possessing fake Indian currency.
Siddique Hassan, a Muscat-based businessman and president of Overseas Indian Congress Cultural Congress (OICC), who is trying to secure the Omani national's release in the first case said, ''Considering the recent cases, OICC is planning to give a memorandum to the Indian Embassy in Muscat soon.
''The embassy should advise Omanis applying for Indian visa about fake currencies. Whosoever is buying Indian currency from exchanges should ask for a receipt of the transaction.''
He added, ''The buyer should note down the serial number of currencies and get the list certified by the exchange. This can help the buyer if he is arrested on suspicion. It is always advisable to conduct exchange transactions through a registered age
