By S A Ishaqui
Hyderabad Aug. 25: The city police on Saturday unearthed an ISI-sponsored fake currency racket and seized spurious notes worth Rs 2.36 crores. Four persons were arrested in this connection including a native of the United Arab Emirates. It is believed that the Pakistan intelligence agency is pumping in fake currency through Dubai to destabilise the economy. City police commissioner Balwinder Singh said that his officers acted on a tip-off from the counter intelligence wing that a huge consignment of fake currency had been smuggled into the city a couple of days ago.
Sleuths laid a trap and apprehended one Alkaz Obaid Khamis Ali, 31, at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. On information given by Obaid, police teams arrested Khaled Bin Saleh alias Khalifa, 30, of Barkas, Mohammed Najath, 29, and Syed Ghouse Pasha, 47, and recovered loads of fake currency from them. The notes were in the denomination of Rs 500 and 1,000. Police sources said the currency was smuggled into the city in three consignments from April.
“The fake currency originated from Pakistan and reached India via the UAE in sea cargo,” said Mr Singh. The last consignment of Rs 1.83 crores was concealed as scrap paper and shipped to Mumbai from where it was brought in a truck and stored in a godown at Hashamabad in the Old City. Obaid planned the entire operation with help from Pakistan. He had been taken to Pakistan by Allah Baksh, a member of the Dawood Ibrahim gang, whom he met in Dubai.
He took Obaid to Pakistan three times, where he agreed to smuggle in fake currency. Obaid’s father is a UAE national and mother is a Hyderabadi. The arrested persons told the police that about 30 others were also involved in the currency smuggling racket. Two other consignments had been delivered in Maharashtra and Gujarat. Fake notes worth Rs 2.57 crores were brought to AP, of which Rs 17 lakhs is already in circulation. The Central Crime Station police is investigating the case.
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