Fake currency worth Rs 96,000 seized along Indo-Bangla border in West Bengal

BSF troops seized a cache of 48 Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) of Rs 2,000 from a man who was apprehended along the Indo-Bangla border in Malda town of West Bengal.

Officials said the seizure of the FICN in new notes with a face value of Rs 96,000 was made last evening from Baishnabnagar area of Malda near National Highway-34, as part of an intelligence-based operation.

This is the second such seizure along the South Bengal frontier of the Border Security Force that comprises five border towns of West Bengal.

The BSF said it apprehended Nadia resident Shariful Shah (32) with the cache as he was allegedly carrying the notes and was attempting to board a bus from the highway.

“The quality of the 48 Rs 2,000 notes, with the face value of Rs 96,000, is better than what was seized by the force sometime back along the India-Bangladesh International Border last week when 100 such notes were seized,” they said.

More details about the quality of notes will be ascertained by concerned agencies, the BSF said.

Shah has been handed over to Malda police for further interrogation about the source of fake notes of Rs 2,000.“Cash worth Rs 820, a mobile phone and an Aadhaar card was also seized from his possession,” they said.

Last week, the force had seized a packet of similar FICN containing 100 notes of Rs 2,000 from a mango orchard in the border town of Malda.

It was then said that these 100 notes, flung in a packet from across the border, had copied at least 8-9 features out of the total 17 on the original currency.

The West Bengal Police had earlier seized 40 such fake notes from a man in Murshidabad, which also lies on the Indo-Bangla International Border in West Bengal.