Valley
Six arrested with Indian bills worth over IRs 10m
The Special Bureau of Nepal Police has arrested six persons with fake Indian currency with a face value of over IRs 10 million.Manish Gautam
The Special Bureau of Nepal Police has arrested six persons with fake Indian currency with a face value of over IRs 10 million.
Pakistani national Nadim Mohammad and five Nepalis Uma Devi Pandey of Kathmandu, Ishwar Prasad Sah Teli of Bara, Paramananda Yadav of Parsa, Dil Bahadur Thapa of Mahottari, and Mahadev Timalsina of Bara were apprehended from different parts of Kathmandu with the counterfeit Indian bills of IRs 500 denomination. They were planning to smuggle the counterfeit bills to India.
Nadim was arrested from Thamel with the fake currency worth IRS 5 million. Timalsina was arrested with fake Indian bills amounting IRS5 million from Baneshwor. Pandey was also arrested from Baneshwor while Thapa, Yadav and Teli were held from Balkhu.
According to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner’s Office, Nadim had flown with the fake bills from Karachi, Pakistan, to Doha before boarding a flight to Kathmandu on March 29.
After landing in Kathmandu, he met with Pandey to plan a way to smuggle the fake currency to India. Soon, Timalsina, Thapa, Yadav and Teli figured in the plan.
Thapa was assigned with the task of smuggling the fake Indian bills across the border while Yadav and Teli were supposed to circulate them in the Indian market.
Deputy Inspector General of Police Bam Bahadur Bhandari of Special Bureau said they followed the suspects for a long time before arresting them.
There are also other suspects, including Pakistani and Indian nationals, who are currently at large, DIG Bhandari added.
Investigation has revealed that Nadim had landed in Kathmandu with fake currency in the past as well. Police believe the fake IRs 5 million recovered from Timalsina was brought by Nadim during his previous Kathmandu visit.
Nadim, according to police, used to smuggle fake currency to India through Bangladesh.
He reportedly changed the route after the Bangladesh authorities stepped up surveillance.
DIG Bhandari said many international terrorist groups have been using counterfeit currency as a means to fund their illegal activities.
In January of 2014, Yunus Ansari, the son of former minister Salim Miya Ansari, was arrested for running fake Indian currency racket. Police had recovered counterfeit Indian currency worth IRs 3.5 million of IRs 1,000 denomination from Yunus’ Lalitpur residence. Yunus is still serving time.