India-Nepal hotline to curb terror, crime

In a significant confidence building measure, India and Nepal on Monday agreed to set up a hotline between the home secretaries to share real time information on crucial issues including cross border crimes and terrorist activities.

The move will help better coordination between the law enforcing agencies to track trans-border crimes, including smuggling of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) and infiltration of terrorists and arms by Pakistan into India through porous Indo-Nepal border, home ministry sources said. The biggest town in Nepal’s Terai region - Birganj has lately emerged as is a transit point for almost all the fake currency entering into India.

Recently, a Pakistani national was arrested from the Tribhuvan International Airport on account of smuggling fake Indian currency notes having a face value of Rs40 lakh. The 45-year-old Karachi resident Mohammed Salim was on an Oman Air flight from Pakistan and was carrying fake notes of Rs1,000 and Rs500 denominations.

Sources said most of the currency notes printed in Quetta in Pakistan find their way in Nepal via Dubai and Bangladesh and then enter India using human couriers via the porous border.