Four get life term for smuggling fake currency

Patna, Oct 11: Four persons have been awarded life imprisonment after being held guilty in a fake currency case.

Afroz Ansari, Kabir Khan, Ishraful Alam and Alomgir Sheikh were sentenced to life by a special court of the NIA. They had been charged with committing a terrorist act and damaging the monetary stability of the nation by smuggling and circulating fake currency.

NIA investigated a case relating to recovery of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICNs) of face value Rs.5,94,000 from the accused Ansari. He was carrying this consignment to Raxaul near the Indo-Nepal border. He was meant to deliver the consignment at Nepal.

During investigation by NIA, it emerged that a syndicate of FICN smugglers was involved in procuring fake currency smuggled from Bangladesh for supplying it to Nepal and various parts of India.

Further investigation into the matter led to recovery of additional FICN of face value Rs 3 lakh from Sheikh.

Forensic examination of the seized notes revealed it to be High Quality Fake Indian Currency Notes. Based on the evidence collected during the investigation, eight accused persons had been arrested.

While the court took note of the chargesheet filed by the NIA and sentenced them, the trial against the other accused is pending.