Vasai couple find demonetised currency notes at beach, hand them over to cops

Lisbon Ferrao with the demonetised notes. Pic/ Hanif Patel

During a beach clean-up drive, a Vasai based couple was shocked to find abondened Rs 57,000 demonetised currency notes on Sunday. The couple found the banned Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes in a pouch at Bhuigaon beach in Vasai. The couple informed to the Vasai Police about the matter which has launched a probe, the police sources said.

The couple, Lisbon Ferrao and his wife Zsuzsanna Ferrao, a Hungarian national. Both are residents of Vasai area and for the last 5 years they are conducting beach clean-up drives. The couple have almost 12,000 valunteers at Vasai.

The couple found around 109 old notes of 500 and of 3 notes of 1000. These notes were banned in 2016 by the Indian government.

Police Naik, Ramesh Pote of Vasai Gaon police station said, "The couple handed over old currencies to us which they found from the Bhuigaon beach on Sunday morning. We will send these to the RBI for checking if these are orginal currencies or fake."

Lisbon ferrao and his wife got married in 2013 after they met on a dating application.

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Speaking to mid-day Lisbon Ferrao said, "On Sunday morning we were doing cleaning on the beach and beach was empty due to marathon in Vasai-Vira area. We found a pouch from the beach while cleaning and there was around Rs 57,000 old currency notes. I kept these notes at home and in the evening, I informed to the cops about it. I later handed over them to the Vasai Gaon police station."

"We are doing the beach cleaning for the past 5 years. We collect the garbage and clean the beach on every Sunday. Earlier, we had once found a human skull and bones from the same beach a year ago," Lisbon Ferrao further said.

Keeping the old demonetised notes is an offence. On November 8, 2016 Indian government and RBI decided to demonetised the old currencies notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes through a notification. These notes were allowed to be deposited in banks by December 30, 2016.