Fake currency: How RAW is turning the heat on Pakistan

New Delhi, Sep 7: A courier containing fake currency landed in India a few months back.

Tracking the origin of the courier it was found that the same had been sent from China.

Investigations later revealed that fake currency was first sent out of Pakistan to a person in China who in turn decided to courier it to a contact in India. [Fake currency menace: New Rs 1,000 notes to be issued soon]

This incident reveals that the Pakistan based racket has been innovating with each passing day and a detailed paper of the Research and Analysis Wing shows how deep rooted the problem is. In the past few months agents of the R&AW have launched a global operation and this has led to persons being arrested in Sri Lanka, Thailand and Bangladesh.

The arrests of these persons reveals the global network of these persons who are actively pushing fake currency from various corners of the world with India being the target.

The global network of the Fake Currency market

Gone are those days when fake currency would land in India from Pakistan directly. In fact the Pakistan to India route to push fake currency is almost closed today.

New routes as per the files of the intelligence show that fake Indian currency smugglers are today operating in China, Thailand, Bangladesh, Sri-Lanka, Nepal and the UAE.

After the closing down of the Pakistan-India route to pump in fake currency, the next hub was Bangladesh. With the Bangladesh market coming heavily under the scanner today, the ISI sponsored racket has found other countries to further this racket.

The courier from China containing fake currency was part of a test run by these persons. They may not attempt it again as their secret was busted.

It was found that the notes manufactured in Pakistan are sent in containers to China. There is a pick up point from where the notes are then pushed into India through the border.

The arrests in Thailand

Three persons, Sajjad Noor, Ali Hafiz and Noor Shahid were arrested recently in Thailand.

The tip off to the Thai police was sounded off by the R&AW which led to their arrest and subsequent interrogation.

All three nationals of Pakistan were flying between countries on a fake Canadian passport.

During the investigation they revealed that they would bring in the fake currency from Pakistan and drop it off at Thailand. From Thailand the currency would be transported to India. It was also revealed that these persons had point men in Thailand.

Further investigations revealed that the men who worked for the Pakistanis were of Cambodian and Sri Lankan origin. It was also found that the Sri Lankan and the Cambodian were collecting the notes at Thailand and then transporting it to India.

The Rs 10,000 crore racket

The fake currency racket is estimated to be at around Rs 10,000 crore. The ISI which guides this network use the money for funding terror and also attempting to destablise the Indian economy.

During the interrogation of various persons including those in Thailand, it was revealed that an officer in the rank of Brigadier has been handling the fake currency industry in Pakistan.

It has also been revealed that a point man has been positioned in various countries to ensure that the racket goes on unabated.

In Colombo a person by the name Aslam Shera was heading the racket while in Bangladesh it was Amanullah Paracha. An operative from Pakistan operating in the UAE went by the name Rehan Ali. He was however arrested following a tip off by the R&AW.

OneIndia News