In a major crackdown against fake Indian currency notes (FICN), the Special Task Force of Assam police on Tuesday caught three FICN dealers in Goalpara district.
The arrested people have been identified as Md. Anowar Hussain (52), Md. Rafique Ahmed (47) and Md. Krowel Marak (35). All of them are from Krishnai area of the Goalpara district.
The Assam Police acted upon an input provided by the chief of state STF, Partha Sarathi Mahanta, regarding an FICN deal.
"An operation was launched and the STF team proceeded from Guwahati on Tuesday morning and at 1 pm the team intercepted a Maruti Alto Vehicle bearing registration no. (AS 18 F 6863) at Krishnai town and successfully apprehended three FICN dealers," said a statement from the Assam Police.
It further stated, "During the search operation, 29 bundles of FICN of 500 denominations were recovered from the vehicle. The FICN, the vehicle and four numbers of mobile handsets have been recovered and seized from their possession. All the apprehended people and seized items were handed over to the officer in charge of Krishnai Police Station for initiating necessary legal action and, hence, a case has been registered at Krishnai Police Station for carrying out further investigation".
Similar FICN rackets have been busted from various places in Assam. The FICN dealers trying their hardest possible to distribute the notes in the market.
While West Bengal has reported the highest number of fake currency-related cases in the country with 82 cases in 2021 and Tamil Nadu was at the third spot with 62 cases. Overall, India reported 639 cases of counterfeit bank and currency notes in 2021.
Sources said it was a big racket which has been still running in some pockets of lower Assam.
Earlier in 2015, the Centre signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bangladesh to counter the smuggling and circulation of fake currency notes. India and Bangladesh have also constituted a Joint Task Force to deal with common problems faced by both countries related to fake currency notes, circulation, and smuggling.
