Pakistani national, five others held with fake money in Dhaka

The Rapid Action Battalion says it has detained six people, including a ‘Pakistani of Bangladeshi origin’, with a ‘huge number' of forged foreign currency notes.

They were held from different parts of Dhaka during raids which started on Thursday night and in the early hours of Friday.

According to a RAB media statement, they are members of a Pakistan-based gang involved in counterfeiting currency and human trafficking.

The gang has been smuggling fake rupees from Pakistan to India through Bangladesh.

The six have been identified as Pakistani national ‘Abdullah’ alias ‘Selim’, Md Jahangir, Abdul Khalek, Md Kamrul Islam, Abu Sufian and Mamunur Rashid.

“Counterfeit bills worth Indian Rs 10 million, Bangladeshi Tk 623,500, $9,125 and a huge amount of Pakistani rupees, [Arab Emirates] dirham and Saudi riyal have been seized from those detained,” said Mufti Mahmud Khan, director of the RAB Media Wing.

“Besides, 21 Pakistani passports, seven Bangladeshi passports, seven visitor cards of Dhaka airport, five mobile phones and four foreign SIM cards, as well as a number of forged seals and materials to make seals have been found in their possession.”

“We suspect all these have been used for human trafficking,” Khan said.

“Jahangir, Khalek and Abdullah coordinate the gang’s activities. Many Bangladeshi visitors in India have landed in trouble after buying these fake currencies.”

Khan said three of the suspects were arrested from the foot overbridge area near Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 8pm Thursday. The others were caught from in front of Al Amin Restaurant near Airport Police Station early Friday.

The elite force’s statement said Abdullah and his whole family went to Pakistan in 1979. He worked at different garment factories and pharmacies until 2002.

He got involved with the counterfeiting and trafficking gang during his stay in Pakistan.

RAB says most of the gang members are from Chapainawabganj’s Shibganj Upazila. They have been doing business involving fake Indian currency with some people from West Bengal’s Malda district.

These criminals use specially made luggage to smuggle fake Indian currencies into Bangladesh. Another group of the gang works inside Dhaka airport to help the luggage pass immigration and customs, said the statement.

Abdullah and Khalek then send the fake notes to different parts of the country through Rashid.

RAB says the interrogated arrestees have revealed that a huge portion of the fake notes enter Malda through Shibganj border.