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Bid to destabilise economy causes concern

By R Dutta Choudhury

GUWAHATI, Jan 7 � Efforts by anti-India forces to pump in fake Indian currency notes to destabilise the economy of the country have become a matter of serious concern and though the Border Security Force (BSF) and SSB personnel sometimes manage to seize such currency notes, such seizures can be termed only as the tip of the iceberg.

Highly-placed official sources told The Assam Tribune that according to information gathered by the security agencies, the fake currency notes are manufactured mostly in Pakistan. Though fake currency notes are also manufactured in other places and even in some parts inside India, those manufactured in Pakistan are of much better quality and it is virtually impossible for an untrained person to identify a real note from a fake one.

Sources said that the fake currency notes manufactured in Pakistan are sent to India mostly through Bangladesh and Nepal, where the Pakistani intelligence agency Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) has a good network.

Meanwhile, Border Security Force (BSF) sources said that in the year 2010, troops of the border guarding force managed to seize fake currency notes of the face value of Rs 2.95 lakh in the Assam-Meghalaya sector and arrested 12 persons including two Bangladeshi nationals in this connection. The seizure increased to Rs 3.85 lakh last year and 13 Indian and nine Bangladeshi nationals were arrested.

Sources said that the persons involved in cattle smuggling and smuggling of other goods are also involved in smuggling of fake currency notes. As such notes are not manufactured in Bangladesh, the BSF, in the recent meetings with the Border Guards Bangladesh, sought the cooperation of the BGB to deal with the menace by taking advantage of the improved relation between the two countries.

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