NIA arrest fake notes 'kingpin' in Guwahati

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested a resident of Assam's Kamrup district from Guwahati, who was allegedly part of a Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) racket and was involved in the collection of fake currency from across the international border and circulation in Bengaluru.

An NIA official said Akbar Ali is a "kingpin" of the FICN network in the country and a reward of Rs. 25,000 was earlier announced for his arrest in connection with a case registered by NIA's Hyderabad office in 2015.

An NIA team from Hyderabad on Thursday arrested Ali, a resident of Goroimari village in Kamrup district, situated about 50km west of Guwahati, from Kotahbari here.

"Investigation revealed that Ali had come to Bengaluru from Assam in 2007 and was working in a flower shop. He was introduced into the FICN business by another accused Hakim, who is known to be his uncle. Akbar Ali was instrumental in forming a gang at Bengaluru which was involved in trafficking and circulating the high-quality FICN. He was a part of a larger conspiracy along with other accused persons mostly based in Malda, West Bengal in smuggling high-quality FICN from across the international border with an intention to threaten the monetary stability of India. The proceeds from the circulation of FICN were deposited into the bank accounts of accused persons and their associates based at Malda," an NIA statement said.

The case relates to the seizure of fake Indian currency notes worth Rs.5,01,500 from the possession of one Saddam Hossain in September 2015 at Visakhapatnam.

"During the investigation it was revealed that the accused Saddam had travelled to Malda (West Bengal) from Bengaluru on the instructions of Amirul Hoque, another accused and collected the FICN from another gang member Roustam on four occasions in 2015 and was part of a larger group of persons involved in smuggling of FICN from across the international borders and circulating it in Bengaluru," said the statement.

During the investigation, the names of other members of the inter-state gang and their associates from Malda and Bengaluru have come to light and further investigation against them is going on, said the statement.

The NIA Hyderabad branch has already filed charge sheets against Saddam Hossain and Amirul Hoque on July 29, 2016, and August 12, 2016, respectively and against Roustam and Hakim on July 24 this year.