The counterfeit rupee is made in Pakistan—goes to India. The route of smuggling these counterfeit notes is Sri Lanka via Bangladesh, then India. This counterfeit rupee smuggling has been going on for a long time. Counterfeit rupee first arrives in Chittagong in a marble container from Pakistan. Then it was brought to Dhaka and stored. They are then smuggled across the border into India at convenient times. The police came to know about this after arresting two members of a fraud ring with a counterfeit currency of Rs 7.5 crore in a special operation in the capital. They were arrested by Gulshan police.
The arrested are Fatema Akhter Opi and Sheikh Mohammad. Abu Taleb. A case has been registered against the arrested at Khilkhet police station. The accused in the case have been sent to court for remand.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Gulshan Division Deputy Commissioner (DC) Assaduzzaman said this at a press conference held at the DMP Media Center on Saturday afternoon. He said two persons were arrested from Khilkhet and Demra areas of the capital on Friday night. DC Asaduzzaman said that Fatema Akhter Opi was arrested on the basis of information that a woman was standing in front of the gate of Banarupa residential area of Khilkhet with fake Indian rupees. Then 50,000 fake Indian rupees were recovered from him. On the basis of the information provided by her, another 7 crores 34 lakh 50 thousand counterfeit Indian rupees were recovered from his own house in Panditpara area of Dakshin Khan police station. Later, another member of the forgery ring Sheikh Mohammad from Demru’s Sarulia area.
DC Asaduzzaman said the arrested Fatema Akter was an active member of the International counterfeit Indian money-laundering ring. For a long time, he used to collect Indian counterfeit currency from Pakistan through international channels and smuggle it to India through marketing through domestic channels. Abu Taleb, who was arrested on November 23, handed over the recovered Indian counterfeit to Fatema Akhter Opi. Taleb, through Pakistani nationals Sultan and Shafi, skillfully smuggled out of 500 sacks of marble stones imported from Pakistan, 95 sacks marked with pink thread, to Bangladesh via Sri Lanka. Describing the ring as involved in the scam for nearly 10 years, DC Asaduzzaman said, “Fatima used to collect these counterfeit coins from Pakistani nationals Sultan and Shafi.
Fatema and Taleb used to hide these counterfeit rupees under the water tank of their house in Dhaka. Later, he used to smuggle it to India through various borders of the country. ‘ The police official further said that Danesh, the husband of Fatema Akter Opi, is a Pakistani citizen. He is ill and now lives at home. He was arrested by DB Motijheel Division a few years ago. There are two cases in his name. In addition, Abu Taleb was traveling to Pakistan. Since her husband is Pakistani, Fatima has also visited Pakistan many times. This is the source of their acquaintance with Sultan and Shafi, the leaders of the fake rupee cycle, and later they too became involved in this cycle.