The city police have arrested a Nigerian national after he reportedly tried to exchange two fake hundred dollar notes to purchase a camera from an outlet on Cross Cut road.

Police claim that the shopkeeper refused to accept the foreign currency and directed him to get it exchanged at a textile unit nearby. The owner of the textile unit accepted the US dollars and in exchange gave the Nigerian Rs 8,500. However, the textile owner became suspicious of the dollar notes and alerted the police. "He was handed over to the police and he confessed that the two hundred dollar bills were counterfeit currency," said R Gunasekaran, assistant commissioner of police, crime.

The accused, identified as Victor Bayam from Nigeria, has told the police that he was travelling across the country and was en route to Tirupur to visit a friend. He had arrived in the city from Hyderabad earlier this week along with another Nigerian. "He is not forthcoming in his answers and we are still trying to get more details," Gunasekaran added.

The accused was not carrying his passport and also did not have any other documents to prove his identity. An official complaint has been lodged against him at Kattur police station by Mohammed Rafi (43), a resident of Vadavalli who had accepted the two fake bills. Victor has been booked under 489 (B) of Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939 and Section 14 of the Foreigners Act 1946.