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Analysis: India eyes fake currency flow
New Delhi (UPI) Mar 07, 2008 Indian intelligence and security agencies have asked the government to formulate a comprehensive strategy and launch a countrywide crackdown against terrorist groups that have been circulating fake currency into the country's banking system. Concern was expressed at a recent high-level meeting of the top intelligence and security officials to discuss the onslaught of fake Indian currency that has found its way into the country's banking system from across the border. The heads of the Research and Analysis Wing, Central Bureau of Investigation, Intelligence Bureau, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and Enforcement Department attended the meeting. "Of late, India has been facing a serious problem of fake currency notes, which the notorious sleeper cells of various jihadi outfits from overseas have been circulating in the various banks of the country to destabilize the economy," said A.B. Mahapatra, executive director of the Center for Asian Strategic Studies, a non-governmental think tank. Following the meeting, the government said it was contemplating localizing material used in the making of currency notes such as paper, ink and machinery. India currently imports all the items used in the printing of currency notes. As a preventive measure, the Reserve Bank of India, India's central banker, has instructed all nationalized and private banks to equip their branches with ultraviolet lamps to detect counterfeit notes and to report to police authorities if fake currency is detected. "The currency-chest holding banks have also been advised to install note-sorting machines at all the chests in a time-bound manner," said Manikrao H Gavit, junior Indian interior minister. "The RBI has installed currency verification and processing systems in its various offices, each having a processing capacity of 50,000 to 60,000 pieces per hour." The issue assumed gravity when police in Hyderabad city seized two consignments worth $3 million just ahead of twin bomb blasts that rocked the city last August. The consignment was brought to Hyderabad from Mumbai and Chennai ports. Those arrested in connection with the blasts told interrogators fake currency worth $50 million had been printed in Dubai and was awaiting smuggling to India. A senior Indian Interior Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Pakistan's Inter Service Intelligence spy agency uses Islamist rebels from groups such as Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Harkat-ul-Jihadi-Islami, which are based in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Dubai, respectively, to smuggle and circulate counterfeit currency in India through their sleeper cells. "The motive behind the smuggling and circulation of fake Indian currency notes is to destabilize the economy of the country," said CBI Director Vijay Shankar. "Our enemy country (Pakistan) is using our infrastructure to demolish the faith of the people in the country's economy." The meeting of senior intelligence and security officials also recommended that the government ask the RBI to enhance security in the entire banking system. They also suggested the government set up special courts for speedy disposal of cases relating to counterfeit currency. In response, the federal government set up a nodal group under the Interior Ministry to tackle the issue. An Interior Ministry note that listed the government measures said the CBI has been nominated as the nodal agency to monitor the investigation. The CBI said it holds periodic meetings with ministries, police authorities, law enforcement and other security agencies and coordinates with state-level nodal officials on the issue. Other preventive measures include upgradation of the intelligence network and coordination with sister intelligence agencies, and special operations along India's borders. Gavit, the junior interior minister, said the RBI advised banks to set up forged-note vigilance cells at its head offices. Various agencies under the Finance Ministry also took steps to check the circulation of counterfeit currency, including the dissemination of information on security features through print and electronic media and the formation of forged-note vigilance cells in all the head offices of banks, and incorporation of additional security features in Indian bank notes. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links
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