Intelligence inputs saying Pakistan's ISI pumps in over Rs13 crore annually to fund terrorist activities in Mumbai alone has startled the city police.
‘ISI fighting proxy war in India, with Indian money’
MUMBAI: Intelligence inputs saying Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) pumps in over Rs13 crore annually to fund terrorist activities in Mumbai alone has startled the city police.
The fact that this funding is being carried out by dumping fake Indian currency has put both the anti-terrorism squad (ATS) and the crime branch on alert.
"The ISI is cleverly fighting a proxy war in India, that too with Indian money, bleeding our financial system while spilling blood on the streets," remarked a senior intelligence officer.
The counterfeit currency smuggled in by air and land is handed over to local agents for distribution. These agents exchange the notes with genuine ones at discounts of up to 30 per cent. The genuine currency is then used to finance the terrorist network.
"This money is used to finance terror-related activities and make payments to cadres of terrorist organisations and underworld outfits close to the ISI," said Mumbai's joint commissioner of police (crime) Rakesh Maria.
Both the crime branch and the ATS have made six seizures each of fake currency this year, arresting at least 27 persons, including 13 Bangladeshis, and confiscating over Rs40 lakh. The biggest case was on March 11, 2008, when two Bangladeshi nationals were killed in an encounter near Kashimira. Police recovered fake currency amounting to Rs10 lakh, 2kg RDX, one revolver, and a pistol from the spot, along with a Bangladeshi passport in the name of Mohammed Ali. The seized currency was in the denomination of Rs1,000.
According to the crime branch, small amounts of fake currency are smuggled in by Bangladeshi nationals through India's porous eastern borders from places like Murshidabad and Bashirhat. The larger quantities arrive from Dubai, Kathmandu, Bangkok, Karachi and Kolkata.
Karachi-based Aftab Batki, an associate of gangster Dawood Ibrahim, is said to be the ISI's front man for sending and distributing fake currency in India. The main purpose is to get genuine Indian currency in exchange for the counterfeit. The genuine currency is then used to fund terrorist activities and pay agents working for different organisations like Huji and Simi.
"The ISI just has to bear the cost of printing fake notes," said a senior police officer. "The entire terrorist network is sustained using genuine currency acquired from within India."
b_parmar@dnaindia.net
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