fake money racket : Smugglers switching routes: Cops

Fake Indian currency with face value of around IRs 320 million was seized in India in 2012. Around same year, Nepali authorities confiscated counterfeit Indian notes that toted up beyond IRs 26 million mark. All these forged rupee notes in 1,000 and 500 denominations had originated in Pakistan and smuggled to India, or in the process of reaching there through an intricate network of couriers.

The syndicate running the fake Indian currency racket remains a booming enterprise, and Nepal has been playing a vital role in keeping it alive.

Yunus Ansari, Nepal’s kingpin of counterfeit currency smuggling, was arrested with three others on Saturday with fake IRs 3.5 million from Kathmandu. The son of former minister Salim Miya Ansari, Yunus is believed to be an important point person overseeing the transfer of counterfeit currency to India from Nepal.

Yunus has already served jail term after he was convicted of fake currency smuggling in 2010. He was held with two of his Pakistani aides in possession of forged Indian currency amounting IRs 2.5 million. Even from inside the prison, police say, Yunus had aided the fake money cartel smuggle the duplicate notes to India.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Subodh Ghimire said smuggling of counterfeit currency to India via Nepal continues despite all the measures employed by the authorities to stem the flow.

“Their way of doing business is evolving,” SSP Ghimire said. “They are forging nexus with other criminal cartels, switching their routes and hiring foreigners as their couriers.”

On April 17, 2011, a Thai national was arrested with counterfeit Indian currency amounting IRs. 4.5 million from a Capital-based hotel. The same year, police seized a huge cache of fake Indian currency notes concealed in factory-packed baby powders and potato chips. A Pakistani mother and her son were also held trying to smuggle fake Indian currency.

Until 2007, Nepal was the main transit for smuggling fake currency to India. But after a series of crackdowns on the racket launched by the authorities, the smuggling routes were switched to other countries like Bangladesh, Dubai and Malaysia.

“A majority of the people arrested with fake currency are just couriers who have a little knowledge on the whole racket and the main people involved,” SSP Ghimire said.

Fake IRS seizure

2008/09 IRS 3.85 million

2009/10 IRS 1,33 million

2010/11 IRS 781,892

2011/12 IRS 20.91 million

2012/13 IRS 26 million

2013/14 IRS 3.5 million