The fake currency racket in India

India’s enemies are working overtime to not just plot physical attacks like the Mumbai carnage but also on ways to destabilise Indian Economy.

Dinesh Sharma

India’s enemies are working overtime to not just plot physical attacks like the Mumbai carnage but also on ways to destabilise one of the pillars of growing India – Economy. And at the centre of the whole Fake Indian Currency Network is India’s most wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim and his D-company. Since the network is backed by the ISI, espionage agents and insurgents have also gained notoriety for smuggling of counterfeit notes. Printing: The network begins in Pakistan where the notes are printed. The Maler Cantt security press in Karachi is especially noteworthy for printing fakes, which are harder to detect and thereby command a higher price. Available inputs also show that good quality notes are also being printed in Quetta, Lahore and Peshawar. Routing: The currency is routed through Thailand and the UAE, with Dhaka, Kathmandu and Colombo acting as the major transit points. The D-company then brings in the ‘money’ to India via air, sea and land routes. This gets ensured due to certain porous border areas as well as India’s lack of adequate FICN (Fake Indian Currency Network) detection facilities. Among the slack points in our system are some seaports and airports. In fact, the role of some Indian as well as some international airlines is also under scanner. The circulation of fake Indian currency also has political repercussions. This is because this money is supposedly also used to fund pro-Pak candidates during elections. And the circle gets complete and more difficult to break because money power plays a primary role in Indian polls. This is a definite cause for concern as statistics depicted are alarming. In 2005, the seizure of fake currency in India amounted to Rs 7 crores, it rose to Rs 10 crores in 2007 and last year’s data has shown it to be Rs 12 crores. And these figures are based on what was confiscated, the actual amount maybe very high. The whole network works professionally as a coherent unit. Importantly, Nepal has emerged as a major center for pushing in of counterfeit money into India. The racketeers from Karachi handle enquiries, give samples, and take orders via Nepal and in a matter of a few hours the consignment gets delivered in Kathmandu. Some Pakistani nationals in Thailand smuggle fake money into Nepal. And the flow to India is made possible easily. The network, which is also present in Bangladesh thanks to Pakistan’s ISI, is clearly visible in India’s North-East region as well. Sri Lanka has also become a hotbed for launching economic terrorism in India. The local Tamil and LTTE cadres are used to give a push to this trans-national illegal trade. That this economic terror unleashed by Pakistan is also state-sponsored was authenticated after reports indicated the use of Pak diplomatic bags for dispatch of the currency to Nepal and Thailand. The Pakistani embassies in Colombo, Bangkok and Dhaka have caught the eye for the same. What is extremely worrisome is the fact that still loads of counterfeit currency is waiting to be despatched to India. It becomes vital to further analyse and study how the syndicate flourishes. And tracking the routes of operation is the next equally difficult task. To cite a few examples of the reach of this system: • The villagers including petty smugglers along the Indo-Pak border in Punjab/J&K are enticed to retrieve the fake notes buried in the farm land across the border fencing. • Vehicles including trucks plying between Nepal and India are also being used. • A set-up run by Kathmandu-based Jamin Shah alias Gurung, owner of the cable television distribution channel M/s Space Time Network is working in collaboration with Chota Shakeel in Pakistan. • Kerala resident Hamza, who was held in this connection in 2007 said that the currency seized from him had its origins in Pakistan. He added that two of his associates in Dubai were holding Rs 200 crores counterfeit with them. It was also learnt that 65% of the proceeds of the sale is sent from India via the Hawala channels to UAE and Pakistan. • Bhutan is also a party to it as Dubai sends counterfeit money to the former via Thailand. Jaigaon, Alipurdwr, Falakata and Madarihat, district Jalpaiguri, West Bengal are emerging as key centres. Tuticorn, Rameshwaram and Kayalpatnam in Ramnad district of Tamil Nadu have become the landing points. It’s not that India is not doing enough to counter the menace. Among the arrests worth mentioning was that of Yunus Ansari in Bangkok and Sajid Ansari in Nepal. Based on his interrogation, an important India-based network of Ansari was disrupted by IB/DRI. In August of last year, the DRI neutralised an international FICN smuggling syndicate operating from Pakistan and Nepal with linkages in Western Uttar Pradesh. As per available information, Iqbal Kana is the one who is organising large scale smuggling of fake notes into India. He has an elaborate distribution network primarily in Western UP and Haryana. It is not just these states but others like Punjab and Jammu who too have been hit by the bug. On India’s part, the solution to this vexing and persistent problem lies more in dismantling Dawood’s infrastructure of terror than in anything else. Adapted by Ritam Banati