Fake currency: 50 per cent of security features have been replicated in Rs 2,000 note

Within three months after demonetisation, fake currency operatives have managed to replicate 50 per cent of security features in Rs 2,000 note.

New Delhi, Feb 1: The Border Security Force and the National Investigation Agency recently intercepted two consignments of fake Rs 2,000 currency notes along the Indo-Bangladesh border. Investigations, based on forensic analysis, revealed that the fake notes have replicated 50 per cent of the security features of the original ones.

The new Rs 2,000 denomination note has 17 security features. The fake currency operatives have managed to replicate eight of them, investigations revealed. Investigators tell OneIndia that the colour of the note has not been replicated yet. The notes are darker in colour and the paper quality is not the same, an officer noted.

Four features on the reverse side of the note-- a motif of the Chandrayan, the Swachh Bharat log, language panel and also the year of printing--have been replicated. Further, on the other side of the note, racketeers have managed to replicate the Devanagari numeral, the guarantee clause with the RBI governor's signature and the water mark. The feature for the visibly impaired is, however, not usable in the fake note.

The development has worried the agencies a lot. They say in three months since the decision on demonetisation was made, criminals have managed to replicate half the features on the notes.

"We suspect if the fake notes are coming directly from the Inter-Services Intelligence controlled mints in Pakistan. The notes that were printed by those mints were of high quality and it was impossible to tell the difference between the fake and the genuine notes," said an investigator.

During the raid the officials found a few Rs 500 fake notes as well, but they were of very poor quality. The Financial Intelligence Unit says that the focus will be on the Rs 2,000 note, as fake currency racketeers always focus on the higher denomination.

OneIndia News