Other States - Uttar Pradesh   

Fake currency pumped into western Uttar Pradesh areas

Devesh K. Pandey

NEW DELHI: The three young men arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi police this past Monday for allegedly dealing in counterfeit currency notes were circulating the fakes in the rural areas of western Uttar Pradesh.

Prime accused Jamil purportedly told his interrogators that after he began receiving the consignments of fake currency from Pakistan-based Iqbal Kana, he developed a network of conduits in Hapur, Saharanpur and Muzaffarnagar in western UP to distribute them. .

The idea behind such a modus operandi was to circulate counterfeit notes in areas where people could not easily distinguish the fake from the real. This way, Jamil and his accomplices allegedly pushed currency worth crores of rupees in the villages and towns, especially in Hapur, over the past two years. They used the fake currency in financial transactions.

Jamil allegedly received the consignments both through air and land routes.

He would pay 40 per cent of the value of the fake notes to Iqbal in advance through hawala channels for each consignment. In the past three months, he had allegedly received notes worth over Rs. 1.5 crore.

During interrogation, Jamil purportedly disclosed to the police that he had received the notes smuggled in through the Indo-Nepal, Indo-Bangladesh and the Indo-Pakistan border. Those coming by air from countries like Malaysia, Thailand and Sri Lanka were also used to smuggle in the notes, carefully concealed in goods like dinner sets.

It was only after notes worth Rs. 10 lakh were seized at Indira Gandhi International Airport here earlier this year that Jamil began using only land routes to receive the consignments.

Jamil has purportedly revealed the names of several persons who are engaged in this murky business damaging the country’s economy in a big way.

The police are on the look-out for at least four persons, including Rashida and Mehrunisha who had allegedly brought the consignment from Pakistan on board the Thar Express and handed it over to Jamil’s cousin Naeem.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Fake FIRs being lodged, alleges SP
Mayawati enters Vidhan Parishad
Encephalitis claims 32 lives in U.P.
Fake currency pumped into western Uttar Pradesh areas
BJP demands CBI probe into blast
SP walkout over attack on MLA

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu