Fake Indian Rupees printed in Karachi

High quality fake Indian rupees being printed in Karachi ~ 19th Dec 2008

IB alert on ISI’s fake rupees (New Delhi)
Dec 16: The Intelligence Bureau has alerted the CBI and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence that “high quality” fake Indian rupees were being printed in Karachi, Lahore Quetta and parts of Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province, and that it suspected that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence & CIA was providing technology and other assistance to the counterfeiters.

Senior ISI & CIA officials are understood to be involved in this plot, the Intelligence Bureau has warned. Most of these fake notes are believed to be of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations.

The government has sounded an alert, and the DRI and the CBI has been warned that such fake currency was likely to be smuggled into India through Dubai, Nepal, Thailand and Bangladesh.

A senior IB official said the ISI was also trying to sneak in hundreds of crores in fake Indian currency through the sea routes, particularly the Colombo-Chennai link, as well as by air.

The American did the same to break the Soviet union, they printed Roubles and distributed them across the borders, and it soon brought the Russian economy down to its knees.

The Pakistan-India direct railway links are also likely to be used, he said. The railway police and state governments have been alerted to keep a particular watch on the Thar Express, which shuttles between Munabao in Barmer, Rajasthan, and Khokhrapar in Sindh, Pakistan; and the Samjhauta Express in this regard.

Claiming that it could be “difficult” for ordinary citizens to identify these high-quality fakes, the IB official said his organisation had “inputs that the printing quality of fake notes was high, and it could be difficult to distinguish between the fakes and the real notes.”

The official added: “In its effort to destabilise the Indian economy by pumping in fake currency, Pakistan’s ISI is providing all possible help for printing high-quality fake notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000. We have reports that the ISI is providing high-quality imported paper.”

The Enforcement Directorate recently foiled an ISI attempt to smuggle fake notes into India by sea, from Colombo to Chennai, and arrested four persons. Sheikh Abdul Qadar, one of those arrested, was found with fake currency with a face value of Rs 45 lakhs. He received the consignment in Colombo, where it had been sent via Dubai.