The city police found that some ISI agents were smuggling fake currency from Pakistan and Bangladesh into the country. The agents were making efforts to hit the economy of India, said the police.
The Central Zone police arrested Abdul Aleem, a native of Lalagola Town, Musheerabad District of West Bengal and a former journalist Ch. Nandalal Bose in the city recently. Police seized Rs.3 lakh fake currency and Rs.80,000 original cash from them.
IB alert
The arrests were made just a couple of days after the Intelligence Bureau (IB) alerted the police over likely infiltration of suspected terrorists from Bangladesh on trains. The IB also cautioned the police over increasing ISI activities in the country.
During investigation, it was revealed that Aleem was smuggling fake currency using agents from Bangladesh to India in trains.
Middlemen
He had arranged middlemen at different places for circulating the fake notes in the market. Bose, who has financial problems, agreed to exchange the counterfeit currency by taking some amount, said the police.
“The notes seized from the accused were printed in Pakistan or Bangladesh and were smuggled from Malda District (border district of India with Bangladesh). There is a lot of difference between the local fake currency and the ISI counterfeit notes, which almost resembles original currency,” said a police officer investigating the case.
The Satyanarayanapuram police had arrested Aleem along with another person of West Bengal for circulating fake currency, a few months ago.
Patamata police station Circle Inspector P.E. Pavan Kumar Reddy (who arrested Aleem and Bose) said that the seized counterfeit currency would be sent to Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for examination.
