Counterfeit notes with face value Rs 96,000 seized in Malda

BSF arrests man with fake Rs 2,000 notes; says smugglers looking to replicate new Rs 500 notes as well

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The seized items on Monday. Express

After counterfeiting the new Rs 2,000 notes, the fake currency smuggling racket across the India-Bangladesh border has stepped up efforts to replicate the new Rs 500 notes, intelligence officials have said. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Border Security Force (BSF) too have claimed that samples of fake Rs 500 notes have come from across the border for approval.

The officials said investigation has revealed that though several security features of the notes have been copied, the print quality remains poor, but added that it would be difficult to detect the fake notes with naked eyes. “The arrested note smugglers revealed during interrogation that the new consignment of fake notes is coming from Pakistan. There is also a spurt in the number of fake Rs 100 and 50 notes,” said a senior Home Ministry official.

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On Sunday, BSF personnel seized a consignment of 48 fake Rs 2000 notes from a man apprehended along the Indo-Bangla border in Malda district of West Bengal. Officials said the seizure was made from near NH-34 in the Baishnabnagar area of Malda.

“We had received specific information that a youth has come to Malda to collect a consignment of FICN (fake Indian currency notes). We were told that he was heading toward Baishnabnagar and will be moving forward from there,” said DIG, BSF, R P S Jaswal in a statement issued on Monday.

The statement said that Shariful Shah (32) hailed from Nadia district and ran a ration shop there with his brother. “He told us that he was in desperate need of money and had come here to a money lender. But we believe that he was planning to distribute the notes through the public distribution system since he runs a ration shop. Of course it is possible that he would have sent the notes ahead to another handler,” said a source in the BSF.

Shah was arrested when he was about to board a bus. Apart from the fake notes, genuine notes amounting to Rs 820, a cellphone and an Aadhaar card were recovered from him. This was the second such seizure along the Indo-Bangla border, says the BSF statement.

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Shah has been handed over to West Bengal police for further interrogation, said an official. The official added that the quality of the 48 fake notes, with a face value of Rs 96,000, was better than what was seized by the force sometime back.

Last week, BSF had seized 100 Rs 2000 notes from near Malda on disclosures made by one Umar Faruk, who was arrested by NIA. According to BSF, the total face value of fake currency seized in the first two months this year stood at Rs 2,96,000. Last year, fake currency with face value of Rs 1,47,70,500 was seized and 19 smugglers arrested.

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