Big catch: BSF nabs fake notes racket kingpin from Malda
In a major success, the officers of BSF’s G branch arrested Sarif Miyan (32), the kingpin of an international fake Indian currency notes (FICN) racket, on Thursday morning from the vicinity of Chowringhee crossing under Malda’s Kaliachak police station. Sarif, a resident of Bhabta, under Bihar’s Sathi police station, had FICN worth 748,500 in his possession, which was seized by the BSF.
In a major success, the officers of BSF’s G branch arrested Sarif Miyan (32), the kingpin of an international fake Indian currency notes (FICN) racket, on Thursday morning from the vicinity of Chowringhee crossing under Malda’s Kaliachak police station. Sarif, a resident of Bhabta, under Bihar’s Sathi police station, had FICN worth 748,500 in his possession, which was seized by the BSF.
Of the seized notes, 599 are in denominations of 500 and 449 notes are in denominations of 1,000. Besides this, a mobile phone and two SIM cards were also seized from Sarif’s possession. The BSF has handed over the accused to Kaliachak police station after interrogation.
Incidentally, in the last one month, fake notes worth nearly 40 lakh were seized from different parts of Malda in joint raids conducted by the police and the BSF. Six persons - all involved in transporting the notes - were arrested.
A senior officer of BSF said that during interrogation, Sarif said that he had procured the FICN from a tout in Malda. BSF officers have come to know that at present, a gang from Nepal is very active in Bengal in circulating FICN. Sarif has mentioned the name of Pradip Sau and two others who are reportedly monitoring the smuggling of FICN in Bengal from Nepal’s Birganj area.
The BSF officer added that the top members of this gang are smuggling the notes from Bangladesh through the India-Bangladesh border. They are using the poor youths of the border villages to transport the FICN, taking advantage of their poverty.
The BSF officers also came to know that Sarif was scheduled to go to Nepal with the FICN. So he was coming to Malda town on Thursday morning to board a train. BSF sources said Sarif received as many as 24 ISD calls between Wednesday evening and 5am on Thursday.
The DIG of BSF (Malda sector), Arjun Singh Rathod, said, “This is one of the biggest successes of the BSF. We have found FICN amounting to 7,48,500 from the possession of Sarif.”
Malda SP Prasun Banerjee said, “We have got some suspected phone numbers and two SIM cards from the possession of Sarif. As the investigation isn’t over, we aren’t revealing the name of the person from Kaliachak who supplied the notes. Kaliachak police is probing the matter.”