UNB, Chittagong :
Organised forger gangs have become active again across the district, mainly in the city, to circulate fake currency notes, with passage of barely a few days after Eid-ul-Fitr.
They are now mainly continuing their activities targeting Eid-ul-Azha.
With a large number of forged currency notes, five members of the counterfeit money syndicate have been arrested from different areas of the port city over the last few days.
Many members of the forger gang are now active in the city, Additional commissioner of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) Banoz Kumar Majumder said, adding that they at times arrest one or two members of the gang who are actually retail sellers of fake notes which reach them passing through different hands.
On Wednesday morning, police arrested one Bidhan Chandra Devnath, 25, with fake currency notes worth Tk 20,000 from a place near Hatkhali Petrol pump under Halishahar Police Station of the city.
Officer-in-Charge of Halishahar PS Syed Abu M Shahjahan said they acting on a tip-off, arrested Bidhan and seized 20 fake notes of Tk 1,000 denomination from his possession.
The OC said they are conducting drives to arrest the associates of forger gang member Bidhan.
Police sources said an organised gang is trying to circulate counterfeit notes at cattle markets to be set up ahead of Eid-ul-Azha. On August 10, police arrested another young man Tazuddin alias Masud with fake notes amounting to Tk 20,000 from Rahattarpool area under Baklia Police Station of the city.
OC of Baklia Police Station M Mohsin said during interrogation, Tazuddin admitted that he had been engaged in forged money business for long. Later, Baklia police also recovered 10 more fake notes of Tk 1000 denomination each after carrying out search in his house.
Earlier on August 9, two more people with fake notes worth Tk 5000 were arrested from Kalamiah Bazar area under the Baklia PS. The arrestees were identified as Sohel Khan, 35, of Narsingdi district and Sheikh Azmir, 21, of Mymensingh district.
CMP official Banoz Kumar said they could not identify the main culprits of the forged money business even after carrying out investigation following the arrest of several counterfeiters.
He, however, said they were continuing drives to arrest those involved in fake note business.
Earlier, several members of the forger gang along with Tk 1.66 lakh fake currency notes were arrested from Halishahar area of the city before Eid-ul-Fitr.
Over the last several years, fake money detecting machines have been being set up at the cattle markets in the district to prevent illegal transaction of counterfeit notes.
