Five people, including a former militant, were arrested with fake currency notes of face value of Rs 2.15 crore here, a police official said.

Three cheque books and Rs 5 lakh were also seized from the five men — four from Kashmir and one from Delhi — when their vehicle after a tip-off was intercepted from the Bathindi area on the city’s outskirts, the official said.

He identified the arrested people as Nazir Ahmad and Manzoor Ahmad of Srinagar, Riyaz Ahmad of Pulwama, Basit of Shopian and Mohd Naimullah of Dwarka in Delhi.

“Nazir was in Tihar jail for six years in a militancy related case and had he came in contact with Naimullah there,” the official said.

He said the Bahu Fort police station received information about some persons carrying “low quality Indian currency notes to use the same for illegal purposes”.

Police teams stopped a vehicle and apprehended the five suspects and made the seizure, the official said, adding a case was registered and further investigation is underway.