Three held for melting coins

Indian police arrested three people in Calcutta and seized 403lbs of coins after the central bank asked police to investigate an unusual coin shortage in the city, officials said today.

Police officers raided a small business in the Girish Park neighbourhood on Friday after receiving a tip that a gang was melting coins there to make into shaving blades and metal statues, local police chief Balai Kumar Sanpui said. The metal value of the coins is higher than their face value.

“We found seven steel cabinets and the coins were stacked into them to be melted later,” Sanpui said.

Coin shortages in Calcutta, the capital of West Bengal state, spurred the Reserve Bank of India to take emergency measures, distributing millions of coins in an attempt to satisfy demand.

Every working day, 1,500 to 2,000 people stand in lines at the bank to exchange currency notes for coins, many planning to resell them for a profit.