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ATS claims prize catch in fake note racket

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) claims to have picked up a prize catch, who was allegedly acting on instructions of Pakistani intelligence agencies to push fake currency notes into the country.

According to State ATS chief and Inspector-General of Police Ajay Tomar, the police recovered fake currency notes in Rs.1,000 and Rs. 500 denominations with a face value of Rs. 1.35 lakh, besides fake Bangladeshi and Indian passports, from Ashghar Ali Abdul Hussain Abuli, who was arrested from a house near the Chandola Lake in the Shah Alam locality here on Wednesday night.

Originally a resident of Godhra in Gujarat, Ashghar Ali migrated to Pakistan at a young age with his family in 1977. They had initially gone on a two-year visa but stayed on. In Karachi, Ali continued his studies, got a Pakistani passport, and left for Dubai in 1984. Three years later, he returned to Karachi and resumed studies, but was caught in a fake bearer cheque case and jailed in 1994. While in jail, Ali was reportedly influenced by Pakistani intelligence agencies to work against India, and he returned to Godhra with his family in 1998.

For the next few years, he undertook menial jobs in Godhra, Ankleshwar, Ahmedabad, and other places, and in 2002 moved to Bangladesh. After managing to procure a fake Bangladeshi passport, Ali moved to Dubai again.

He returned to Godhra in 2005 and got a fake Indian passport with a Pune address in the name of Lokhandwala Ashghar Abul Hussain Abuli. From then on, Ali visited Karachi and Dubai several times and was believed to be in constant touch with Pakistani spy agencies.

Ali also made trips to Surat, Ujjain, Delhi, Patna, Kolkata, Amritsar, and other places to set up his network to smuggle in fake currency notes. The fake notes were smuggled through the Nepal border, and genuine notes sent back through hawala rackets to Pakistan and Dubai.

A four-member gang held near Godhra last week with fake currency notes, with a face value over Rs.10.35 lakh, was believed to be part of Ashghar Ali’s network, Mr. Tomar said. During his sojourns in Dubai, Ali became a partner in a small chemical factory at Ajmal, near Dubai. He was also believed to have acted as a clearing and forwarding agent for several shipping companies based in Gandhidham at the Kandla port in Kutch district, and the police were apprehensive about whether he used it for producing explosives and other materials to aid the network.

The police, however, are still on the lookout for a ‘water jug’ in which one of Ashghar Ali’s accomplices had been carrying fake currency with a face value of Rs.10 lakh in the Motihari-Porbandar Express train last week. They were shadowing the person, but he managed to escape.

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