Hyderabad had been one of the worst hit cities in the country due to the circulation of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICNs) - especially those printed in Pakistan.
Gangs supplying such counterfeit notes - printed with precision, making it difficult for commoners to differentiate from original ones - frequently surfaced in the city. The frequency and intensity varied now and then, but the FICN rackets being orchestrated by Pakistan’s Islamic Services Intelligence (ISI) were striking this city since early 2000.
A few weeks ago, Hyderabad Police Commissioner’s Task Force sleuths busted one such gang and seized FICNs of Rs. 500 denomination. Christened ‘Money Action’, circulation of FICNs is one of the ploys of the ISI to destabilise Indian economy. It is described as part of their ‘low-cost’ effort to disturb the Indian economy. Police sources maintain fake currency notes printed abroad had many security features of the original ones.
After printing, the counterfeit currency is smuggled into the country through different routes. The notes are passed onto civilians, agents of mafia gangs and members of terror outfits operating from Bangladesh. Through the porous border along West Bengal, the fake notes are smuggled into the country.
The second mode is that mafia gangs identify gullible Indian labourers returning from Gulf countries to their homes and offer them money if they carry some luggage (in which they clandestinely keep fake notes) to India. In some cases, the racketeers even offer to buy air tickets for the passengers.
Initially, they used to select passengers flying to Mumbai and Ahmedabad but slowly those coming to Hyderabad too were roped in. Intelligence officials maintain that Aftab Batki of Mumbai and Babu Gaithan of Hyderabad - both operating from the Gulf - were responsible for smuggling Pakistan-printed FICNs into Hyderabad during 2001-03.
Malda in West Bengal is a hub for counterfeit currency smuggling activities.
Eventually, they began establishing contacts with some local offenders here and started supplying the fake notes for original ones in the ratio of 3:1. Despite arrests, the gangs had been rising like Phoenix.
Members of the gangs come to Hyderabad, take houses on rent in slums or lower middle class localities and start exchanging the counterfeit notes by purchasing cosmetics or groceries costing less than Rs. 50. “Centre’s ban on currency notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 denomination will stall activities of these gangs at least for some time,” say Task Force police officials.
After printing, the counterfeit currency is smuggled into the country through different routes.
