By U Sudhakar Reddy/Hyderabad Fake Indian cur rency printed in Pakistan is reaching Hyderabad and coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh in a big way.
The shipments reach the city on air from Dubai , through sea from Pakistan via Gujarat , Mumbai and Kochi , and also make their way through the porous borders between India and Bangladesh .
Police sources say most of the fake currency racketeers are linked either to the ISI, the Dawood Ibrahim gang or Bangla based terror groups.
Police suspect that the money is being used for terror and underworld activities of jihadi groups and gangsters.
The fake currency coming to the state is of high quality and the Reserve Bank of India officials say it is very difficult to distinguish it from the genuine currency printed by the Indian Security press. After keen scrutiny, RBI officials detected slight variations in water mark and thread which are not visible to the naked eye.
It is suspected that fake currency notes of crores of rupees are in circulation in Andhra Pradesh. In the latest instance, counterfeit notes worth around Rs 10 lakh had been slyly introduced in the market.
In the last few years, police has been successful in busting several gangs dealing with fake currency, but this has not ended the flow.
One reason is that several key accused have escaped the police dragnet. Two key racketeers, Aftab Bhatki, a native of Mumbai and Babu Gaithan, a native of Barkas in the city, could not be nabbed. They are both in Dubai and the AP police has sought the help of the Interpol to catch them.
Since the kingpins could not be nabbed, investigation into many cases reached an impasse and the flow of counterfeit notes continued.
In the last eight years, sleuths have pursued 10 major fake currency rackets sponsored by ISI and DCompany and arrested 25 persons. They also recovered counterfeit currency worth about Rs 3 crore.
“The fake currency racket has international ramifica tions,” said the Commissioner of Police, Mr B.
Prasada Rao.
He added that racketeers sometimes threw shipments of currency over the fence in the Bangladesh border when Border Security Force guards were away. “The smugglers reach the city from Kolkata by train,” he said. It is believed that the racketeers take the help of illegal immigrants from Karimnagar, East and West Godavari districts, Nizamabad and Kadapa to smuggle in fake currency on the air route. They are wrapped in carbon papers so as not to be detected by X-ray machines at airports.
In August 2007, police seized counterfeit currency of Rs 2.36 crore and arrested a UAE national and three others from the city. But a kingpin of the racket, Kamlesh, based in Hong Kong , is still absconding.
This consignment was shipped into the country from Karachi in April 2007.
The first shipment arrived in Gujarat. It was the Gujarat police who informed the city police of the Hyderabad link.
According to the police, this was a dry run by the ISI to establish a chain through which fake notes would be brought into Mandvi from Pakistan and spread to different places.
Police are also probing the fake currency angle in the Lumbini and Gokul Chat blasts which occurred in the city soon after the busting of the huge racket.
The shipments reach the city on air from Dubai , through sea from Pakistan via Gujarat , Mumbai and Kochi , and also make their way through the porous borders between India and Bangladesh .
Police sources say most of the fake currency racketeers are linked either to the ISI, the Dawood Ibrahim gang or Bangla based terror groups.
Police suspect that the money is being used for terror and underworld activities of jihadi groups and gangsters.
The fake currency coming to the state is of high quality and the Reserve Bank of India officials say it is very difficult to distinguish it from the genuine currency printed by the Indian Security press. After keen scrutiny, RBI officials detected slight variations in water mark and thread which are not visible to the naked eye.
It is suspected that fake currency notes of crores of rupees are in circulation in Andhra Pradesh. In the latest instance, counterfeit notes worth around Rs 10 lakh had been slyly introduced in the market.
In the last few years, police has been successful in busting several gangs dealing with fake currency, but this has not ended the flow.
One reason is that several key accused have escaped the police dragnet. Two key racketeers, Aftab Bhatki, a native of Mumbai and Babu Gaithan, a native of Barkas in the city, could not be nabbed. They are both in Dubai and the AP police has sought the help of the Interpol to catch them.
Since the kingpins could not be nabbed, investigation into many cases reached an impasse and the flow of counterfeit notes continued.
In the last eight years, sleuths have pursued 10 major fake currency rackets sponsored by ISI and DCompany and arrested 25 persons. They also recovered counterfeit currency worth about Rs 3 crore.
“The fake currency racket has international ramifica tions,” said the Commissioner of Police, Mr B.
Prasada Rao.
He added that racketeers sometimes threw shipments of currency over the fence in the Bangladesh border when Border Security Force guards were away. “The smugglers reach the city from Kolkata by train,” he said. It is believed that the racketeers take the help of illegal immigrants from Karimnagar, East and West Godavari districts, Nizamabad and Kadapa to smuggle in fake currency on the air route. They are wrapped in carbon papers so as not to be detected by X-ray machines at airports.
In August 2007, police seized counterfeit currency of Rs 2.36 crore and arrested a UAE national and three others from the city. But a kingpin of the racket, Kamlesh, based in Hong Kong , is still absconding.
This consignment was shipped into the country from Karachi in April 2007.
The first shipment arrived in Gujarat. It was the Gujarat police who informed the city police of the Hyderabad link.
According to the police, this was a dry run by the ISI to establish a chain through which fake notes would be brought into Mandvi from Pakistan and spread to different places.
Police are also probing the fake currency angle in the Lumbini and Gokul Chat blasts which occurred in the city soon after the busting of the huge racket.
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