Fake currency: From Karachi to India through Bangladesh

The Karachi-Bangladesh-West Bengal route is today the most notorious where the circulation of fake currency is concerned. The fake currency printed in the denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 at a printing press in Muzzafarabad is brought in bulk to the Karachi airport and then flown into Dhaka.

From Dhaka, it is moved by road and lands up in the Malda district of West Bengal and then circulated to the rest of the country is what investigations by the National Investigation Agency has found.

Rs 31 lakh moved by foot into India:

NIA officials told Oneindia that all the fake currency that comes in from Dhaka is moved to the border and then transported into India by foot. The fake currency is handed over to labour who come into India illegally in search of jobs. They are handed over notes in the denominations of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 and are asked to drop it off at Malda in West Bengal which has become a major collection point.

For those circulating fake currency from Pakistan this has been the most favourable route since the surveillance is comparatively less. Notes are handed over to construction labour who are always looking to enter into India for a better pay. They are paid a measly sum of money for transporting the notes and most of the times they are unaware of what they are even carrying.

Unchecked racket in Karachi:

When the NIA questioned several persons in connection with this racket it was found that an operative by name Hossain Morjen was the point man in Malda.

He is given 30 per cent of the value of the fake currency and his job was to ensure it was pushed into the rest of the country. After having the money picked up he hands over the same to Rakib Shaikh another operative who distributes it to the other parts of the country.

The currency has moved to Assam and even parts of South India, the NIA has discovered. What has stunned the NIA is that the fake currency is openly moved into the Karachi airport. It passes through there without any checks.

The money is bundled into a gunny sack and then flown in Dhaka where another person by the name Shaikh Hussain is tasked with collecting it.

With the blessings of Pakistan:

The Intelligence Bureau and the NIA have always maintained that the fake currency racket has the blessings of the Pakistan establishment. The ISI was in fact instrumental in ensuring the smooth passage of the printing paper between the UK and Pakistan.

The reason why the fake currency looked so authentic was because the paper was being sourced by the Pakistan mafia and the Indian government from the same place in the UK.