Thane: A special court has sentenced two Bangladeshi nationals to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for possessing and circulating fake currency notes of ₹1,000 denomination in parts of Thane in 2015. As many as 408 notes amounting to ₹4.08 lakhs had been recovered from them.
As per the charges against them, the conspiracy was hatched between July and October 2015 along with four others - all of them Bangladeshi nationals. On Wednesday, the court sentenced Abdullah Shaikdar, 43 and Najmul Shaikh, 26. While another man Mohd Sobuj, 36, was arrested in October 2015, he absconded by jumping bail granted to him in February 2016 and fled to Bangladesh. The man had pretended during the probe that he was an Indian. He had managed to procure a voter ID and rented a room in Mumbra. An extradition proposal was sent in his regard after he was arrested in a fake currency case in Dhaka and was confirmed to be the same person.
Fake currency notes scam
Shaikhdar had travelled to Bangladesh and returned through Haridaspur checkpost in India and smuggled the fake currency with him. Shaikh, who was living in Ahmedabad, by procuring identity cards using forged documents , came to Mumbai and started living with Shaikhdar and Sobuj in the Mumbra flat rented by Sobuj. It was in this room that the fake currency was stored and circulated in Thane. During their personal search in Oct 2015, all were found in possession of the fake currency.
The accused were booked with terror charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for attempting to damage the economic stability of India by their acts by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
