FICN factory busted in Kolkata, fake currency worth ₹90,000 seized

The police have arrested two people, and seized counterfeit notes worth more than ₹90,000 over the past two days

In a major development, the Kolkata Police have unearthed a factory near Eco Park in North 24 Parganas where fake Indian currency notes (FICN) of smaller denominations, including ₹50 and ₹100, were being manufactured.

Representational image.

The police have arrested two people, and seized counterfeit notes worth more than ₹90,000 over the past two days.

“FICN of denomination starting from ₹50 to ₹500 were seized. While one note of ₹500 denomination was seized, at least 900 notes of denomination ₹100 were seized. At least 20 notes worth ₹50 were also seized,” said a senior official of the Kolkata Police’s special task force.

Acting on a tip off, an STF team intercepted two persons – Changez Alam (36) and Afzal Ali (22) – from north Kolkata on Tuesday night and counterfeit notes worth ₹70,500 were seized from them.

After interrogation, Alam led the officials to a rented house near Eco Park in North 24 Parganas where they had set up a factory to manufacture counterfeit notes. FICN worth around ₹21,000 was seized from the hideout.

The police have also seized a laptop, pen-drives, wooden frames, vice, colours and chemicals for screen painting of security threads and images on the notes, knives, cellotapes, coloured films and other items, such as bond papers and stamp papers, from the hideout.