Mumbai: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken over the case of Pakistan-made counterfeit Indian currency from the Mumbai crime branch. Recently, the Mumbai crime branch received an order from the central agency about taking over of the case.
The Mumbai crime branch on February 9 arrested a flyer from Dubai carrying fake Rs 2,000 notes with a face value of Rs 23.86 lakh. The accused, Javed Gulamnabi Shaikh, a resident of Kalwa told investigators that the notes were printed in Pakistan and routed to India via Dubai.
According to the crime branch officer, the notes were of high quality and it was very difficult for a common man to differentiate between the fake and real ones.
Investigation revealed that only two security features were found to be missing from the counterfeit notes, the ink that changes colour with angles and ‘see through register’ (when the note is held against the light hidden features can be seen) was found to be missing.
On the day of arrest the crime branch has said that we are verifying the terror angle. “The suspected Pakistani involvement, the quality of the notes and the route which was used to transfer the counterfeit notes, could have led the NIA to take over the investigation,” said a crime branch officer.
“Sitting on the section 6(5) of the NIA act which empowers the agency to take over the case, NIA has under taken the investigation,” he added.
On February 9, acting on a information provided from the central agencies, the unit 8 of the Mumbai crime branch laid a trap at the Mumbai Internationl Airport and apprehended Shaikh.
During his search 1,193 high quality notes of Rs 2000 denomination with the face value of Rs 23.86 lakh were seized. The note were neatly stored in his travel bag to avoid suspicion. Shaikh had gone to Dubai to meet his brother. When issued in 2016, the new notes were touted as highly secured.