Cops bust fake currency rackets

Sabin Chandra Acharya

KATHMANDU: The Metropolitan Police Crime Division (MPCD), Hanumandhoka, has met success in busting sever counterfeit currency rackets in the capital in

recent times.

According to the authorities, the racket is flourishing, thanks to easy availability of state-of-the-art scanners and printers.

The law enforcement agency has seized 1 million NRs, 13 million IRs and $207,000 in the last three years.

The police have arrested 47 people in connection with this cross-border crime.

The accused have been booked as per the Counterfeit Currency Chapter of Muluki Ain, 1963. Nepali, Indian, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan

and Liberian nationals have been found to be involved in

the racket.

“Thirty Nepali nationals have been arrested. The racket has

its origin abroad. But the criminals are active in Nepal as well,” said SSP Birendra Babu Shrestha, in-charge, MPCD,

Hanumandhoka.

The officials maintained that the local perpetrators were not all that well-equipped due to lack of sophisticated machines to pull off the con job.

“Their modus operandi is rather elementary. Water, carbon paper, cotton and chemical white powder are the basic

ingredients to print fake currencies. Some were also found

to be using color photocopier,” added Shrestha.

The criminals are facing trial in the Kathmandu District Court. Some of the accused are lodged at the Central Jail in

Sundhara. While, others are

languishing at the Dillibazaar Jail. On August 29, Abdul Gaffar, a Pakistani national, was arrested at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) along with fake Indian currency worth 2396,000 in denomination of 500 IRs.

Gaffar was held at the TIA on his arrival from Doha, Qatar.

India, which has been at the receiving end of the fake currency racket for long, has brought the growing menace to the Nepali government’s notice.

On his recent state visit to

India, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, too, assured

of pulling out all stops to bust the racket.