Bangladesh currency paper used to print fake notes

New Delhi: Indian intelligence agencies will soon take up with their Bangladesh counterparts the issue of counterfeit notes of the new Rs 2,000 denomination which were seized recently being produced on currency paper that is normally used by the Bangladeshi printing press to print their own currency notes. Intelligence sources said preliminary investigations into the three recent seizures of Rs 2,000 fake notes, two from Malda and one from Kolkata, have revealed these were produced on currency paper used in printing currency by Bangladesh mints.

Since there has been an increased level of cooperation between intelligence agencies of both countries, Indian agencies said they would flag the issue with their Bangladeshi counterparts to ensure that there was no “pilferage or connivance of some staff” at the mints in Bangladesh.

“In technical terms, the currency paper is often also known as stamp paper. In the last few days there have been three important seizures of fake Rs 2,000 notes, introduced in November last year following demonetisation, that had been smuggled from the Indo-Bangla border. The interesting feature, specially in the sei-zure made in Kolkata, revealed that the notes had been printed on stamp or currency paper used in Bangladesh. We are still conducting more investigations and will soon take up the issue with our Bangladesh counterparts,” a senior intelligence official said.

Both the National Investigation Agency and Intelligence Bureau have informed the Centre that ISI-backed subversive elements have been able to copy at least 8-10 security features in the new Rs 2,000 notes. Officials admitted that if initial reports of currency paper from Bangladesh mint being used for printing counterfeit Indian currency were correct then it was surly a cause for concern.

The BSF has already informed their counterparts, Bangladesh Rifles, on the increasing incidents of smuggling of fake Indian currency. Indian intelligence agencies also suspect that some of the staff members of Pakistan embassy in Dhaka may also be involved in this and were using their “diplomatic immunity” to pump in new currency from through the porous Indo-Bangla border.

Intelligence reports available with the government reveal that the ISI has already set up a latest printing press on the outskirts of Karachi for producing fake notes of new denomination of Rs 2,000 and Rs 500.

`The possibility of some diplomatic channels being used to bring in this currency from Pakistan into Bangladesh through the air route cannot be ruled out. This issue has been taken up with Bangladesh authorities in the past but in view of the recent increase in seizures of Rs 2,000 fake notes we would ask the agencies there to investigate this aspect more thoroughly,’’the official added.

Demonetisation has had a huge impact on funding of both terror and Naxal outfits leading to a decline in their activities also. For instance post demonetisation there was a sharp drop in incidents of stone pelting in the Kashmir Valley as subversive elements could not pay the local youth for holding demonstrations. It is believed that terror groups and their operatives pay the local youth anything between Rs 500-800 for pelting stones on security forces.