The CBI will soon seek U.S. help in cracking an international cartel circulating fake cheques after the agency arrested an India-based operative and seized counterfeit bank drafts with a face value of USD 300,000.
Official sources said cooperation of the American enforcement agencies will be sought through Letters Rogatory and other channels to trace the masterminds of the racket involved in printing, circulation and use of counterfeit cheques.
A large number of special paper sheets to be used for printing such counterfeit cheques have also been seized. These paper sheets could have been used for printing cheques with a face value of around USD 81 million, the agency said.
It said only the printing of cheques was carried out here with data and materials being routed from the U.S. CBI sources said the racket may have been running for at least one year.
The CBI had on Tuesday conducted searches at residence of Hemant Reddy in Dwarka in south west Delhi and seized the counterfeit cheques.
Interestingly, all the cheques mentioned amounts less than USD 5,000, which the officials believe was being done to avoid suspicion.
