The Delhi Police have arrested one of the main suppliers of fake Indian currency notes (FICN) in the market and recovered fake notes with a face value of Rs.82,70,000.
According to the police, Shahjahan Sheikh (35) was wanted in many cases of smuggling high quality FICN from Bangladesh into India and had become the most wanted Indian kingpin.
“Shahjahan’s was running a widespread network of FICN peddlers. His trade was spread as far as Gujarat and Maharashtra where he has been found involved in many cases of fake currency circulation. He has been arrested after a long-drawn operation carried out in a remote village of Malda, West Bengal, which is a stone’s throw from the Indo-Bangladesh border,” DCP (Special Cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said.
During interrogation, Shahjahan told the police that smuggling of fake currency is like a cottage industry business in his native village and taking up the trade was like continuing a family tradition for him. He got involved in it through a friend.
Shahjahan had direct access to the contraband markets of Kaisar Haat, near Rajashahi area of Bangladesh, where ISI agents have set up a clandestine market. “After procuring fake currency from Kaiser Haat, Shahjahan would make use of an extensive network of cross-border smugglers to get it transported to his native village from where it would be further passed through chains of conduits before reaching buyers spread across Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat and other locations,” Mr. Yadav added.
With the arrest of Shahjahan, the Special Cell is hoping to get a better understanding about the fake currency operations being carried out at the behest of ISI.
He smuggled notes from Bangladesh into Indian States through a widespread network
