By IANS,
Bangalore : An international fake currency racket was busted with the arrest of two people carrying Rs.15 lakh in counterfeit notes – printed in Pakistan, police said here Friday.
“Anrool Shiekh alias Salim, 27, a native of West Bengal and Dubai Babu, 50 from Tamil Nadu have been booked under section 489A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for trading high-denomination fake currency notes,” police commissioner Shankar Bidari told reporters.
During preliminary interrogation, the duo confessed that the fake notes in Rs.1,000 and Rs.500 denomination were printed in Pakistan. The notes were brought to India through Bangladesh for circulation in various parts of the country.
“I am writing to the state government to handover this case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as it has international and inter-state ramifications with a deleterious impact on the Indian economy,” Bidari said.
The modus operandi of the accused was to exchange fake notes worth Rs.100,000 for Rs.40,000.
“Circulating high denomination fake notes has become a cottage industry for anti-national elements with the involvement of their counterparts in Pakistan and Bangladesh through border districts,” Bidari added.
Investigations into the fake currency racket revealed that the perpetrators have set up a chain of contacts on border districts like Malda in West Bengal. Their suppliers in Bangladesh ship the notes to India and distribute them through unsuspecting people.
“The fake currency notes appear to be as good as legal notes with the missing water mark as the only exception. Even an expert will find it difficult to differentiate them from legal notes,” Bidari said.