How ISI brought back its fake currency operatives post demonetisation

Post demonetisation, operatives who dealt in fake notes were jobless. For the ISI, it was very important to rehabilitate them since the said operatives are capable of penetrating several countries

The November 8 decision on demonetisation brought a grinding halt to the fake currency network. Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence had invested a lot in terms of money and manpower to ensure that this racket spread deep into the Indian monetary system.

However today, several operatives who were specifically appointed for this, are jobless. For the ISI, they are prized operatives who are capable of penetrating several countries in a bid to wreck havoc in India.

Today, the ISI is rehabilitating these operators who are largely based in Dubai, Nepal, Pakistan and India. The ongoing investigation into the train derailment cases exposed a network of the ISI which was the same one that looked after the fake currency racket.

How ISI rehabilitated the fake currency operatives:

Names such as Shafi Shaikh and Shamshul Huda are not unknown to the Indian agencies. These names have been in circulation for the past 10 years and the investigations clearly suggested that they were the ones running the fake currency racket.

Shaikh is a Dubai-based operative of Pakistan origin. He has been in Dubai for a little over 10 years. His job is to oversee the inflow of the fake currency into the Indian market. Pakistan often prints the fake notes and sends them across to the United Arab Emirates. This consignment is then moved into Nepal before making its way into India.

This is a route that had been adopted by these operatives after India increased the heat on the direct route between Pakistan and Nepal.

Huda too, has been a key player. Based out of Nepal he takes orders from Shaikh. Huda is also the person who deals directly with the operatives in India. His direct points of contact have been in Bihar and West Bengal.

Now with the Bihar police suggesting that the Kanpur derailment in November could have been the handiwork of the ISI, investigations have shown that the same persons were behind it. Yet again, the trail and the route was the same. Shaikh takes orders from Pakistan and in turn instructs Huda in Nepal. Huda activates his module in Bihar and instructs them to carry out the attack.

An Intelligence Bureau official says that if investigations prove an ISI hand in the train accidents, and it becomes clear that the ISI used it same fake currency network to engineer these incidents as well.

OneIndia News