Author: Pradeep Thakur
Publication: The Times of India
Dated: August 2, 2006
Bangladesh is fast emerging as the hub of
all anti-India operations - from training of terrorists and pushing them in
to smuggling of arms and narcotics, but the most preferred item seems to be
counterfeit currency.
Intelligence agencies , dealing with outright
smuggling, have mapped the new terror route along the Indo-Bangladesh border.
The activities are controlled from Dubai through operatives in Pakistan, Bangladesh
and Mumbai.
Sources said Barak Valley and Karimganj in
Assam and Kailasahar and Dharam Nagar in north Tripura, apart from some villages
in Bengal, are the new terror outposts where contraband is dumped to be taken
to big cities.
This is currently the main route for smuggling
of fake Indian currency, an official said. The intelligence report reveals
the modus operandi in which the operators in Mumbai place orders for consignment
from Dubai on phone.
From Dubai, the operatives contact their counterparts
in Pakistan and Bangladesh and the fake currency and other contraband sent
to Bangladesh is smuggled into India via land route through Indo-Bangla border.
Intelligence report indicates that old route of Gujarat and Rajasthan has
been abandoned by smugglers due to high vigil of security forces.
Though the Indo-Nepal and Indo-Pak borders
are still active for smuggling, the Bangla border is the most favoured route
for pushing fake currency into the country.
In the bordering districts, fake currency
has eroded the acceptability of even genuine currency notes threatening the
stability of the monetary system, sources said.
The Indo-Bangla border is an open boundary
stretching over 2,653 km and runs along Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Bengal.
Illegal cross-border movement of people through this border is extensive.
An official said the total value of Indian
currency in circulation (as of March 2004) was Rs 326,962 crore. The value
of seized fake currency in comparison is estimated to be 0.003% of the legitimate
currency. But the actual fake currency in circulation may be much higher as
seizure are merely a fraction of the total fakes in circulation.
"The denomination most popular for counterfeiting
has been the 1987 series of Rs 500 notes. RBI has issued instructions that
reissue of notes of this series be discontinued and that the notes already
in circulation be returned to RBI," the sources said.
