Steep jump in fake notes seizure by Delhi Police in 2021: NCRB data

According to National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) data for 2021 specific to the national capital, more than 50,151 fake currency notes were recovered last year with a value of Rs 2.05 crore. In 2020, during the lockdown when travel was prohibited, only 3,476 fake currency notes were recovered with a value of Rs 4.16 lakh.

“The gangs mostly work through India-Nepal or India-Bangladesh borders because they are porous. After demonetisation in 2016, there was a break in the circulation of FICN from foreign countries but the gangs have started smuggling notes again. The recovered notes are of high quality and can’t be identified with the naked eye. They have the same colour, marks, security threads, texture etc,” said a police officer.

Some consignments are even brought by air from the Gulf to India’s neighbouring countries and then smuggled in through the Nepal border. Police said gangs usually sell fake notes with a value of 1 lakh for Rs 40,000. A huge number of fake notes recovered last year were in the denomination of Rs 100 and Rs 500, they added.

Last December, the Delhi Police Special Cell caught two key suppliers of an international FICN gang and found that the accused had smuggled fake notes with a value of Rs 2 crore to India. “Initially, they were caught with fake currency with a value of Rs 8 lakh. It was later found that the accused would get the consignment from Bangladesh and sell it to their contacts in Delhi. They have already smuggled fake currency with a value of Rs 2 crore in the city,” said an officer.

Police also seized more than 60,031 notes (Indian currency) in cases of fraud and illegal trade in the last year. The value of the notes is around Rs 2.63 crore. “There’s more illegal trade of original currency which we have seized,” said an officer.