Pakistani spy agency Inter Service Intelligence [ISI] is printing
counterfeit Indian and Bangladeshi currencies from the state-owned
security printing presses under special arrangement and circulating the
same through well organized network, which is coordinated by senior ISI
officials. Although India's National Investigation Agency [NIA]
estimated over 16,000 crore [1 crore = 10 million] of counterfeit Indian
currencies in circulation, the actual volume of such currencies are
believed to be much above the estimation. Despite such counterfeit
Indian currencies being regularly seized by members of law enforcement
agencies in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan and Holland, the
frequency of such illegal circulation could never be either contained or
stopped.
The Central Economic Intelligence Bureau [CEIB] in India says that
the NIA, the CBI, the DRI and police have detected only 28 to 30 per
cent of fake currency actually circulating in the market. The quantity
of fake currency floating around in the country is enough to keep the
terrorist machinery well-oiled and running. The price of a counterfeit
Rupees 100 Indian note sold in by the ISI-run racket at the one fifth
prices to the distribution network. According to intelligence reports,
major portion of the fund received from the distribution of counterfeit
Indian and Bangladeshi currencies are used by ISI in giving financial
backing to various terrorist and jihadist outfits such as
Lashkar-e-Tayiba, Hizbut Tahrir, Hizbut Towhid and other militancy
groups in Jammu and Kashmir. ISI is also running illegal trade of
smuggling narcotics from Afghanistan and Pakistani frontier provinces to
various destinations in Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and
Myanmar, while a large volume of such narcotics are re-directed to
various Western destinations by using Bangladesh in particular as
transit route. Few years back, a Bangladeshi business and manufacturing
enterprise named B D Foods, which has closer ties with Bangladesh
Jamaat-e-Islami were caught red-handed while shipping heroin concealed
inside raw fish.
In recent past, the Pakistani ISI also started pumping counterfeit
Indian currency via Vietnam as their previous route using Thailand has
already come to a total halt due to strict measures taken by the Thai
authorities. Counterfeit Indian currencies are being smuggled to India
by some assigned 'carriers' of ISI, most of who are females. Counterfeit
currencies are tactfully hidden within bodies of the carriers, while
they also use specially made suitcases which has metallic compartment to
hide the fake currencies. Counterfeit currencies hidden in the
compartments can easily cheat eyes of the scanners at Nepalese airport.
At the same time, counterfeit Indian currencies are also transported by
ISI 'carriers' inside electronic and electrical appliances, including
refrigerators. In recent past, Vietnam has turned into the major hub of
pumping counterfeit currencies to India via Nepal. The ISI men also send
package of counterfeit currencies through international courier service
on a regular basis.
According to Indian intelligence sources, during 2011, ISI pumped
counterfeit Indian currency worth US$ 250 million. An ISI official named
Aslam Chaudhury plays key role in transportation of counterfeit Indian
and Bangladeshi currencies through their regional network of carriers.
Each year, ISI pumps counterfeit Bangladeshi currency worth more than
US$ 50 million. It was also revealed by the Indian intelligence agencies
that, ISI produces each of the RS 100 counterfeit notes at the cost of
RS 20 only, while the cost of production by the Indian federal bank is
above RS 38. The counterfeit currencies are printing in highest
precision and in most cases; these are similar to those of genuine
notes. ISI's agenda is not only to fund terror outfits through
distribution of the counterfeit currency, but also to put adverse
pressure on the national economy and monetary system in Bangladesh and
India.
The counterfeit Bangladeshi currency notes are pumped by Pakistani
ISI through a number of ways. In most cases, the counterfeit currency is
carried by few airline staffs, who work for ISI against healthy
compensation, while the distribution of counterfeit currency are
coordinated by unscrupulous employees of several nationalized financial
institutions. Counterfeit Bangladeshi currency is missed up with genuine
currencies and bundled by those bank employees and circulated to
people. In most cases, innocent people, who are deceived by the bank
employees with counterfeit currencies, end up into hands of law
enforcing and intelligence agencies, thus suffering legal consequences,
while the main culprits always remain out of reach. It is even learnt
from dependable sources that a section of employees working at the
vaults of the central bank are also linked with the counterfeit currency
racket and replaces the genuine notes with the counterfeits, while due
to high-precision printing methods, it is nearly impossible detecting
the counterfeit currencies even in the regular scanning devices.
Seeking anonymity, a senior government official in India said, most
of the counterfeit Indian currency notes seized by the law enforcing
agencies over the last few years have been of a higher denomination.
"Printing of high-quality fake currency of a higher denomination is
helping the counterfeiter earning huge profit, which is being used to
fund terror operations inside India, besides destabilizing country's
economy. Circulation of Bangladeshi counterfeit currency by ISI
significantly increased since Bangladesh Awami League came into power in
2009. In India, out of each of the four RS 1000 currency notes, one is
detected to be counterfeit. The situation is also becoming alarming with
Bangladeshi currency.
In 2009, Pakistani spy agency ISI eliminated Majid Manihar, who was
believed to be the top kingpin of distributing counterfeit Indian and
Bangladeshi currency in Nepal. Manihar was one of the key links of ISI
in Manihar and he is believed to be killed by the Pakistani spy agency,
when his son Vicky was arrested with counterfeit currency, which
resulted in Majid Manihar being under strict eyes of the Indian
intelligence. Manihar was shot dead in a hotel in Nepalganj in Nepal.
The ISI handlers were suspecting that Manihar was bargaining with
Indian agencies for the release of his son. They also feared an eventual
crackdown on their network. So, they got rid of Manihar by getting him
killed by hired killers. Manihar's son Vicky, after his arrest by a
district police team of India led by SP Lalji Shukla, had given some
vital leads about the fake currency business in the border area. He had
also revealed ISI's role in the FICN operations and his father's links
with Dawood Ibrahim.
In Bangladesh, the distribution of counterfeit currency note by ISI is
coordinated by a man named Ismail, who belongs to Aga Khan Community,
who has closer ties with Dawood Ibrahim and his network. Ismail, a
Pakistani citizen also is reportedly holding British passport runs a
huge distribution network of counterfeit currencies in Bangladesh, which
has a large number of female cadres in the racket. The racket also
maintains closer links with a section of unscrupulous employees of
various banking institutions in Bangladesh.
