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Key peddler of Fake Indian Currency Notes arrested in West Bengal

In a major catch, the Special Cell of Delhi Police has nabbed a 35-year-old man from Malda district of West Bengal who was allegedly the key peddler of fake currency notes into the country which were smuggled via Bangladesh border.

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In a major catch, the Special Cell of Delhi Police has nabbed a 35-year-old man from Malda district of West Bengal who was allegedly the key peddler of fake currency notes into the country which were smuggled via Bangladesh border.

The accused, identified as Shahjahan Sheikh alias Tunnu (35) was arrested on March 25 following a long running operation carried out in remote Kaliachak village of Malda, West Bengal which is a stone's throw from the Indo-Bangladesh border.

"In the last three years alone, his name had featured as the main supplier in at least 11 cases of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) recoveries made by us. He was running a wide ranging network of FICN peddlers and the footprints of his trade were spread as far as Gujarat and Maharashtra where he has been found involved in cases of FICN circulation," said Special Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) S N Shrivastava.

He was directly in contact with people in Chapai Nawabganj, Bangladesh near Rajashahi area of Bangladesh where ISI agents have set up a clandestine market where good quality FICN printed in Pakistan can be obtained in huge quantity by paying for it in original Bangladeshi currency, he added.

According to police, FICN was being obtained by him at about 25% of its face value in Bangladesh and was being sold to down the chain retailers at about 40-45 % of the face value. Shahjahan and his syndicate members were thus earning approximately Rs 20 per sale of a FICN worth Rs 100. The retailers who were ordering bulk supplies from Shahjahan were pushing this FICN in the actual market at about 65 % of its face value for consumption and assimilation in the Indian economy.

"His long periods of illegal activities got him many friends and contacts which were later to become the conduits in his trade of FICN peddling. He took to the business of FICN peddling, which was being practiced in his native village like a cottage industry," he said.

One Mehdur Sheikh alias Bittoo, an old friend and resident of his village, who was already involved in circulation of FICN taught him the tricks of the trade and soon, with his well spread network of friends and associates, Shahjahan became a prominent player of this fledging illegal activity.

Initially, Shahjahan did not have major suppliers at his call but soon, he got linked up with one Hollan and his brother Mohd Falen (arrested by the Special Cell in 2014), both residents of Kinarganj, Chapai Nawabganj, Bangladesh who were key suppliers of fine quality ISI printed FICNs in the border town of Malda in West Bengal.

Later, Shahjahan also started receiving FICNs from one Maidul and Janarul, major Bangladesh based suppliers of FICN. Shahjahan got direct access to the entrenched contraband markets of Kaisar Haat, Chapai Nawabganj. After procuring FICN as per demand from Kaiser Haat, Shahjahan used an extensive network of cross-border smugglers to get the same transported to his native village from where, it again used to pass through chains of conduits before reaching the intended buyers spread over Delhi NCR, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat and other Indian territories. Other than case registered by Special Cell, he is also wanted in two other cases of circulating FICN in Gujarat and Maharashtra.

"It was Shahjahan's mastery of his trade that he kept on evading the law in spite of being searched for by many State Police forces. He used different aliases in dealing with different retail chains and never used to meet any unknown client directly. Also, with his extensive network amongst the cross border smugglers, it was a childs' play for him to keep shuttling between India and Bangladesh to avoid being detected by stationing himself at any particular location for long," said DCP (Special Cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav.

It is suspected that with the arrest of Shahjahan, the original kingpin of the following recoveries of FICN made by the Special Cell from Kaliachak based, down the chain peddlers, will get better understood, he added.

A better understanding of the nature of FICN operations being carried out at the behest of ISI of Pakistan is expected with the detailed interrogation of accused Shahjahan. This arrest is also likely to lead to the identification of other important FICN modules operating along the porous Indo-Bangladesh borders, police said.

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