NEW DELHI: With the festive season round the corner, intelligence agencies and Delhi Police have gone into overdrive to check a massive influx of fake Indian currency notes (FICN) into the capital. According to sources, FICN kingpin Iqbal Kana and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s aide, Aftab Batki, are in the process of sending in huge consignments of fake notes by road and air.
Cops suspect couriers will cross over to Bihar through porous Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bangladesh borders and reach Delhi by train. In Bihar, one consignment could be used in the upcoming elections, according to the intelligence inputs. The fake notes being pumped into Delhi are in the denominations of 100 and 500.
Police are keeping a watch on trains coming to Delhi. They have also advised Delhiites to use debit or credit cards while shopping during the festive season and avoid heavy cash exchange.
According to rough estimates by RBI and other agencies, fake notes with a face value of Rs 1,200 crore-1,500 crore are being pumped into India through various routes.
While Batki and Kana are among the known figures helping the Pakistani spy agency ISI in the fake note supply, agencies have also identified other key players like Aslam Choudhary, Subha Bhai, Sheikh Safi and Sikander. The routes used to smuggle the fake notes into India include UAE, Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and China.
A major syndicate was busted earlier this year with the arrest of Shahjahan Sheikh alias Tunnu, along with his two associates, who belong to West Bengal’s Malda district and recovered FICN with a face value of Rs 20 lakh. The crime branch had also detected another smuggling route via Bangkok and arrested two women couriers with FICN with a face value of Rs 11 lakh.
“We have information that suppliers may attempt to pump in fake currency notes in the coming days. We are focusing to infiltrate the Malda network, which is highly organized. The conduits who receive the consignments from peddlers in Malda take extreme precautions in concealing their identities and hideouts and they avoid direct communications with the peddlers,” joint CP (crime) Ravindra Yadav told TOI.
