Another currency racket busted; woman, 2 others held

Bills printed in Pakistan, routed to India through Bangladesh: Police

The Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the City police on Wednesday said it had busted another international counterfeit currency racket by arresting three people, including a woman, and seizing Rs 13.76 lakh worth of fake notes believed to have been printed in Pakistan.

The CCB’s Fraud and Misappropriation squad raided a third-flood house at Munekolala, Vasanth Layout, Singaravelu on Wednesday morning and arrested Ameerul Haque, 21, a resident of Marathahalli, Shahabuddin Sheikh, 38, and Zainab Mondal, 30, both from Attibele.

Haque is a native of Assam’s Barpeta district, Mondal hails from Barasat, West Bengal, and Sheikh from Murshidabad district of that state.

The CCB police confiscated 535 notes of Rs 1,000 denomination each and 1,682 notes of Rs 500 denomination each. Another suspect, Akbar Ali, 27, a native of Assam’s Barpeta district, is said to be at large.

“They are part of a racket whose handlers are in Pakistan. They circulate counterfeit notes across India. These notes are printed in Pakistan, sent to Bangladesh and transported to India from there,” Dayananda, In-charge Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) said. This is the second such racket to be busted in Bengaluru in a fortnight.

He continued: “High-quality papers have been used in making the counterfeit notes. Such papers are used only in Pakistan to make counterfeit notes. We are certain that the source of these counterfeits notes is in Pakistan.”

Police suspect that Mondal had brought the notes from West Bengal to Bengaluru by train. She had kept them in ordinary bags and travelled in general compartment reserved for women. Replying a question, Dayananda said Mondal had come to Bengaluru for the first time and all the three had no criminal background.

Police are ascertaining the identity and background of handlers who had given the notes to the four suspects for circulation within India. They are also checking people who bought the money in Bengaluru for further circulation. The suspects sold Rs one lakh worth of notes for Rs 50,000, Dayananda added.

The notes will be sent for forensic examination before being submitted to the court concerned for further direction. In cases of counterfeit notes, courts usually order their destruction. But it takes up to three years for the whole procedure to get over and the notes to be destroyed, according to police.