2 held for carrying fake Rs 2k notes

Police arrested two persons on the charge of carrying counterfeit currency at Malda's Baishnabnagar PTS crossing on Monday night. The investigators recovered four pieces of fake Rs 2,000 notes from them. The accused were taken to the court on Tuesday. They were remanded to ten day police custody.

Saidul Rahman (20) and Maidul Shekh (30) were carrying those notes. Acting on a tip-off, the investigators were waiting for the culprits to reach the crossing. They were caught by the police there.

After the interrogation, police learnt that the accused took those notes from Asim Mondal, a resident of Baishnabnagar's Chak bahadur village. Mondal escaped from his residence. The investigators also learnt that Mondal was one of the key accused in the fake note racket. Earlier, he had gone to Bangladesh's Chapai-Nababganj to visit the Indian fake currency factory there.

National Investigation Agency (NIA) is also on the look-out for this man. It should be recalled that in a major breakthrough, counterfeit currency worth Rs 2 lakh of Rs 2,000 denomination were seized during a joint raid conducted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Border Security Force (BSF) from Kaliachak in Malda, a few weeks ago. Acting on a tip-off, in a joint operation, NIA officers and BSF jawans conducted a raid and arrested a 21-year-old youth Umar Faruk. He is a resident of Mohanpur in Malda. Three fake Rs 2,000 notes were found from him and he was arrested. He was wanted in connection with another counterfeit currency smuggling case by the NIA.