Indian police arrested a member of Indian Kashmir's main freedom fighter alliance for allegedly carrying fake currency soon after he left Pakistan's diplomatic mission in New Delhi, media reports said. The arrest of the Sheikh Abdul Aziz came days after the two sides agreed to start a bus service between Indian and Pakistani-held zones of Kashmir, a move seen as boosting an ongoing peace process.

No comment was immediately available from police on the arrest on Thursday.

But media reports said police caught Aziz, 53, a former freedom fighter and executive member of the hard-line wing of the freedom fighter All Parties Hurriyat Conference, carrying 100,000 rupees (2,200 dollars) in counterfeit Indian bills.

He was also carrying 94,000 United Arab Emirates dirhams, the reports said.

Police officer Karnal Singh in Delhi was quoted as saying police were tipped off that Aziz, who arrived on Wednesday in New Delhi from Kashmir, was to collect false currency from the Pakistani High Commission (embassy).

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2005