Fake currency racket in Assam

The arrest of three persons in Guwahati on Friday on charges of trading in fake currency has once again confirmed that the premier city of the Northeast is a major hub of criminals dealing with fake currency. What is most surprising about Friday's arrests is that one of the persons is a brother of a Member of Parliament from Arunachal Pradesh. As has been reported in the media, the Arunachali person was in Guwahati to allegedly 'double' his money; police have said that he had handed over currency notes worth Rs 5 lakh to two persons of Guwahati who in turn gave him fake currency with a face value of Rs 10 lakh. The Guwahati Police have done well by apprehending the Arunachali person, after which two criminals who supplied him with the fake notes were also arrested. The circulation of fake currency in the Northeast is not a new thing. Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has been pumping in huge quantities of fake Indian currency notes (FICN) into the region through ISI operatives and various Islamic fundamental groups. These fundamental groups in turn use their own networks spread over certain districts of Assam which have a concentration of people of East Pakistan and/or Bangladesh origin. The objective of the ISI of Pakistan is to destabilize the Indian economy and to supply funds for Islamist terrorism on Indian soil. Reports say fake Indian currency notes (FICN) worth about 2.2 billion dollars were in circulation in India by 2010. While quite a huge amount of FICN has been seized in the past few years, the presence of numerous Islamic fundamental and terror groups continues to make circulation easy for fake currency. In recent times, the National Investigation Agency has been coordinating with security agencies in Bangladesh in order to dismantle the network patronized by ISI to pump fake Indian currency notes into India. It is a well-established fact that ISI has been using the Bangladesh route to pump FICN into India through Assam, Tripura and West Bengal. As the Assam Police have launched a massive campaign to bust the jihadi network in the state, the fake currency aspect should also be made part of this operation.