NEW DELHI: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has busted another seven modules engaged in the printing of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) and arrested nine people in the crackdown across Maharashtra, Haryana, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, according to an official statement issued on Friday.
The arrests are part of the continuing drive against modules involved in the import of security paper and printing FICN, in which the DRI conducted simultaneous searches at 11 different places across the four states on Thursday.
In Vikhroli West, Mumbai, DRI sleuths identified and located the importer. After a thorough search in a densely populated locality, a sophisticated facility for printing and finishing the Fake Indian Currency Notes was unearthed and fake currency of the denomination of Rs 50 & Rs 100, several tools were seized. The seized items included laptops, printers, pen drives, security paper, A-4 sized papers and butter paper with the watermark of Mahatma Gandhi, the statement said.
On the basis of the complaint filed by DRI officers, the person was arrested and all the apparatus and tools were seized by the jurisdictional police authorities under Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for further investigation.
In Maharashtra's Sangamner and Kolhapur districts, the DRI unearthed similar facilities with computers and printers, which were being used to print fake Indian currency notes. At both places, on the basis of the complaint filed by DRI officers, two accused were arrested and the contraband was seized by the jurisdictional police authorities under BNS for further investigation, according to the statement.
The questioning of the accused in the Kolhapur module led to the busting of another module with printing set up in Belgaum, by Kolhapur police, who arrested three more persons in the case.
In three other locations, (West Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh; Khagaria District in Bihar and Rohtak in Haryana) the importers of the security paper were traced. Incriminating evidence such as restricted security paper and printer at West Godavari; laptops, printers and restricted security paper at Khagaria district were also recovered. The three accused have been arrested by jurisdictional police based on the complaint by DRI officials and the matter has been handed over for further investigation under BNS, the statement explained.
On February 8, the DRI arrested two persons found to be the actual importers of high-quality paper with embedded security thread having inscriptions of ‘RBI’ and ‘Bharat’ (‘security paper’) in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur district and Bengaluru, Karnataka.
On the follow-up next day on February 9, the DRI busted two facilities in Thane on the outskirts of Mumbai and Bhiwani district in Haryana that were printing FICN using imported security papers. Three persons were arrested by jurisdictional police authorities based on the DRI complaint, the statement added.