This was revealed during investigations into the recent fake currency rackets busted by the Maharashtra ATS and other agencies, as also the arrest of LeT operative Mohammed Omar Madni, who was found in possession of fake currency worth lakhs by the Delhi police.
According to ATS sources, the fake currency found with Madni was of the same series as that recovered in various recent busts in Hyderabad, Goa and Mumbai (by the ATS).
ATS officers say that this proves that all the notes had been printed in the same press, and as the quality of the notes was top-notch, they could only have been printed in a government press (of Pakistan).
Investigations into several of these busts, as also the interrogation of Madni, for which an ATS team had recently gone to Delhi, have revealed a complex web of fake currency smuggling from Pakistan to India. ATS officers say Pakistan may be using diplomatic channels to push fake currency into India.
An ATS officer said, “Recently, a lot of fake currency has been pushed into India, as is evident from the many rackets busted in the recent past. We have learnt that some of this money is pushed through diplomatic channels to neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, and then smuggled into India in smaller batches. As diplomats or their assistants and office staff have diplomatic immunity and pass through green channels without their baggage being checked at airports, fake currency in large numbers is pushed through them. Once the money reaches, say, Bangladesh, it is then handed over in small amounts to people who smuggle it into India.”
Additional CP, ATS, Parambir Singh said, “We had this information from intelligence agencies, and suspicions were also raised during our investigations. But as yet we have not been able to apprehend anyone. Thus, it is difficult to pinpoint how exactly the racket operates. It is, however, true that Madni was carrying fake currency of the same series that we had seized a couple of months ago.”
The RBI, in a recent investigation, had said that at least Rs 2,000 crore in fake currency has been pushed into India in the past five years.The ATS and intelligence agencies had found that much of the profit from this racket was being used to fund Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in India, and there were indications that some of this money had also funded the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai.
IB sources say ISI raises Rs 1,800 crore annually to fund terror operations, and that a major chunk of it comes from fake currency rackets. ATS sources say that Rs 30 lakh of the Rs 50 lakh spent on the attack on Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in December 2005 was obtained through such a racket.
