Ahmedabad, May 9(IANS) Two people have been arrested here for circulating fake notes worth Rs.70,000, police said Friday.

'Dipesh Mehta was arrested Wednesday. He had 140 counterfiet notes worth Rs.70,000,' said Inspector A.V. Gakhkhar.

Mehta, 35, a resident of Kathlal village, about 45 km from here, had purchased the currency notes from Rasik Patel, a resident of Bhavnagar.

When Mehta was arrested, he also had genuine currency worth Rs.80,000, which was to be paid to Patel.

Gakhkhar said Patel was nabbed after police made Mehta call him to Gita Mandir Thursday.

'Patel said he got the counterfeit notes from north India via a trader. Further investigation would reveal the exact location. We have sought nine days' remand for the accused,' said Gakhkhar.

'We suspect that the accused were dealing in the currency for more than six months and had also given some of the notes to traders,' he added.

Police believe there could be more than 50 fake notes in circulation here.

On May 1, five men from Uttar Pardesh were arrested here for circulating counterfeit currency and 384 fake notes of Rs.100 denomination were seized from them.

Police believe the gang may have circulated fake currency worth about Rs.30,000 in Ahmedabad through private banks. Their modus operandi was to deposit huge amounts of fake currency in various banks and then withdraw genuine currency from ATMs.