First, it was only three notes. Now, it is an entire packet. The Border Security Force (BSF) personnel, who had recovered three "high-quality" fake currency of notes of Rs 2000 on Tuesday (February 14) in Malda district of West Bengal, found a packet containing 100 such notes in the same district bordering Bangladesh the following day. The district is notorious for the operation of fake-currency rackets.
How to identify fake Rs 2,000 currency notes from real ones
The seizure of the fake notes is bound to make the administration worried for one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's main aim of calling for demonetisation was to curb the business of counterfeit notes. The old notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 were scrapped in November last year and new series of Rs 2000 and Rs 500 came into force. The first sample of the fake 2000-rupee note was found by the West Bengal Police from a village in Malda in January.
On Tuesday, the National Investigation Agency arrested 21-year-old Umar Faruq, while he was on his way to hand over the three fake Rs-2000 notes to a fake Indian currency note (FICN) smuggler. Faruq, who is also a FICN racketeer, had been absconding for two years.
Following his arrest, the BSF suspected more possible deliveries of the "high quality" fake notes. Sensing some activity in a mango orchard of Malda, which lies close to the international border, the BSF personnel made an inspection and found a polythene full of the fake notes worth Rs 2 lakh.
The notes seized on Tuesday have been sent for forensic analysis to find out how many security features of the new 2000-rupee note have been successfully imitated by the racketeers.
