India-Bangladesh stress on need of intelligence exchange to curb fake currency racket

New Delhi, Aug 29: In order to further strengthen the bilateral mechanism to curb smuggling and circulation of fake currency notes, the 5th Joint Task Force meeting was held in New Delhi between August 26 and 28.

Y M Belalur Rahman, Dy. Inspector General, Bangladesh Police, Dhaka headed the Bangladesh delegation, whereas, the Indian delegation was headed by Anil Shukla, Inspector General, National Investigation Agency, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.

A Joint Task Force of India and Bangladesh was formed in the year 2014. In this regard, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Standing Operating Procedure (SOP) has also been signed between the two countries. So far 4 Joint Task Force meetings have taken place.

During the meeting, India and Bangladesh raised their concerns about the illegal smuggling and circulation of Fake Currency Notes and its destabilising influence on the economy of the two nations.

The Indian side highlighted the major cases of detection of FICN smuggling and seizures of FICN in Bangladesh and gave details about the criminals in FICN syndicates, gang leaders of FICN rackets.

Both sides emphasised the need to develop a mechanism to share authentic information about FCN/FICN operatives across the border of both nations. During the meeting Nodal Officers from both sides were nominated to serve as local contact points for sharing information regarding FICN operatives, exchange of interrogation reports, dossiers of the accused etc. through quickest means using information technology.

The Indian side also suggested the Bangladesh side conduct an operation on suspicious bank accounts of bordering areas of Bangladesh through BFIU of Bangladesh Bank to monitor suspicious accounts having unusual movement of funds, such as dummy accounts or mule accounts and raise a red flag for further analysis to dismantle the network of FICN racketeers.

Later, during the meeting, the Bangladesh side highlighted the legal measures available to penalise counterfeiting of currency notes. Bangladesh delegation also discussed in length about the recent achievements made by them in the detection and seizure of FICN in Bangladesh.

It was also highlighted that during detection, FICN operatives based in third countries beyond India and Bangladesh, add a challenge in curbing the menace. Both countries resolved to jointly fight the same with the fullest cooperation.

The head of both delegations signed agreed minutes and emphasised the need for better coordination to curb the growing menace FCN/FICN and also stressed the need for exchange of intelligence regarding gangs, racketeers involved in the smuggling and circulation of Fake Currency Notes.