By IANS,
Kolkata : West Bengal police Monday claimed to have unearthed a racket in counterfeit Indian currency notes allegedly printed in Bangkok by an NRI and sent into the country through the international airport here.
The matter came to light after the police recovered fake notes with market value of Rs.1 million from Javed Golum at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport last month.
“While interrogating him we have now come to know about a non-resident Indian (NRI) from Bangkok, Prem Singh, who is the kingpin of the racket,” Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Deputy Inspector General Rajiv Kumar told IANS here Monday.
“We are trying to gather more information on Singh and his activities,” Kumar added.
Asked whether Singh was supported by any external organisation like the Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Kumar refused to comment.
CID sources said Singh, a native of Haryana, has been living in Bangkok for the past many years and runs an apparel shop and a restaurant there.
“But behind the apparel and restaurant business, Singh prints fake notes and via Kolkata airport distributes them among agents for circulation across India. Generally he supplies the notes in carriers of electronic goods like plasma television and VCD players,” the source said.
The notes are taken from Kolkata airport mainly to Ahmedabad, Gorakhpur, Delhi and Mumbai.