Staff Reporter :
Counterfeit money-maker’s gangs become active again targeting the Eid-ul Azha when big amount of money is transacted by people, especially in buying cattle and shopping kitchen items and others.
The criminals avail the opportunity to supply fake notes as those often remain undetected in the crowded cattle markets where sellers [of cattle] are mostly inexperienced village people, officials said.
In the latest move, the Rapid Action Battalion [RAB] on Thursday detained 5 persons, including a former official of a state-run bank, and recovered a large amount of fake currency worth more than one crore taka from their possession conducting overnight raids in the city’s Banasree and Jurain areas.
At the same time, fake money making equipment have also been seized from them, the officials said.
“We have arrested the five persons, including two women, from Dakkhin Banosree and Shyampur areas in the city. We’ve also recovered fake local currency notes of about Tk one crore from their possession,” Commanding Officer of RAB-1 Lt. Colonel Tuhin Mohammad, said.
The arrestees have been identified as Md Abdur Rashid, 56, Md Dulal, 30, Md Sarwar Hossain, 23, Fatema Begum, 25, and Rubina Begum, 24. Of them, Abdur Rashid is a former junior officer of Agrani Bank. He was sacked from the bank for corruption and served two years’ imprisonment.
The RAB claimed that the gang was planning to make fake notes worth Tk 10 crore and circulate them across the country during the festival.
The two women [first wife Fatema Begum and second wife Rubina Begum] along with their husband Abdur Rahim earlier were detained by RAB on charge of counterfeit currency making. Rahim, however, is now in the jail. The RAB arrested the two women with Tk 78 lakh counterfeit notes and note making equipment. In a separate drive, three others were arrested along with Tk 25 lakh fake notes, said the officials.
“During Eid occasions, these kinds of crime rackets are seen to operate. A good number of culprits along with a huge amount of fake currencies have been arrested in Dhaka, Chittagong and other parts of the country, in a month time,” a senior official of RAB said.
In the last few weeks, about six gangs were busted in Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet and Rajshahi with a huge amount of counterfeit currency notes of Tk 500 and 1000 denomination and printing equipment. Eight members of a currency counterfeiting ring were arrested from the city’s Paltan area with fake notes worth Tk 5.2 million on September 1.
Sources said Bangladesh Bank officials recently held a meeting with law enforcers and asked them to go extremely tough on the gangs.
“We’ll give 200 fake currency detecting devices to the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) so it might put the devices at key points of monetary transactions,” said BB Executive Director and spokesperson Mahfujur Rahman.
According to officials, the printing and circulation of fake notes take place in three phases. Of them, one group prepares and supplies the special paper, another group prints the counterfeit notes and finally, the third group circulates them. “It’s a well-coordinated system, highly professional,” said a senior official of Criminal Investigation Department [CID] requesting not to be named.
He said: “It costs Tk 3,000 and Tk 3,500 to produce fake notes worth Tk 1 lakh. After making the fake money, the criminals sell the notes to wholesale buyers for Tk 10,000 to Tk 15,000. The wholesalers then sell them to retailers in exchange of real money Tk 20,000 to Tk 30,000.”
Some of the criminals circulate the fake notes through a section of unscrupulous officials of banks and ATM booths, he mentioned.
Counterfeit money-maker’s gangs become active again targeting the Eid-ul Azha when big amount of money is transacted by people, especially in buying cattle and shopping kitchen items and others.
The criminals avail the opportunity to supply fake notes as those often remain undetected in the crowded cattle markets where sellers [of cattle] are mostly inexperienced village people, officials said.
In the latest move, the Rapid Action Battalion [RAB] on Thursday detained 5 persons, including a former official of a state-run bank, and recovered a large amount of fake currency worth more than one crore taka from their possession conducting overnight raids in the city’s Banasree and Jurain areas.
At the same time, fake money making equipment have also been seized from them, the officials said.
“We have arrested the five persons, including two women, from Dakkhin Banosree and Shyampur areas in the city. We’ve also recovered fake local currency notes of about Tk one crore from their possession,” Commanding Officer of RAB-1 Lt. Colonel Tuhin Mohammad, said.
The arrestees have been identified as Md Abdur Rashid, 56, Md Dulal, 30, Md Sarwar Hossain, 23, Fatema Begum, 25, and Rubina Begum, 24. Of them, Abdur Rashid is a former junior officer of Agrani Bank. He was sacked from the bank for corruption and served two years’ imprisonment.
The RAB claimed that the gang was planning to make fake notes worth Tk 10 crore and circulate them across the country during the festival.
The two women [first wife Fatema Begum and second wife Rubina Begum] along with their husband Abdur Rahim earlier were detained by RAB on charge of counterfeit currency making. Rahim, however, is now in the jail. The RAB arrested the two women with Tk 78 lakh counterfeit notes and note making equipment. In a separate drive, three others were arrested along with Tk 25 lakh fake notes, said the officials.
“During Eid occasions, these kinds of crime rackets are seen to operate. A good number of culprits along with a huge amount of fake currencies have been arrested in Dhaka, Chittagong and other parts of the country, in a month time,” a senior official of RAB said.
In the last few weeks, about six gangs were busted in Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet and Rajshahi with a huge amount of counterfeit currency notes of Tk 500 and 1000 denomination and printing equipment. Eight members of a currency counterfeiting ring were arrested from the city’s Paltan area with fake notes worth Tk 5.2 million on September 1.
Sources said Bangladesh Bank officials recently held a meeting with law enforcers and asked them to go extremely tough on the gangs.
“We’ll give 200 fake currency detecting devices to the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) so it might put the devices at key points of monetary transactions,” said BB Executive Director and spokesperson Mahfujur Rahman.
According to officials, the printing and circulation of fake notes take place in three phases. Of them, one group prepares and supplies the special paper, another group prints the counterfeit notes and finally, the third group circulates them. “It’s a well-coordinated system, highly professional,” said a senior official of Criminal Investigation Department [CID] requesting not to be named.
He said: “It costs Tk 3,000 and Tk 3,500 to produce fake notes worth Tk 1 lakh. After making the fake money, the criminals sell the notes to wholesale buyers for Tk 10,000 to Tk 15,000. The wholesalers then sell them to retailers in exchange of real money Tk 20,000 to Tk 30,000.”
Some of the criminals circulate the fake notes through a section of unscrupulous officials of banks and ATM booths, he mentioned.
