Chennai: Sleuths from the National Investigation Agency probing the Pakistan spy (Sakir Hussain) case in Tamil Nadu arrested Rafeeq, a counterfeit currency agent in Chennai.
“Rafeeq, who was arrested by CB-CID and lodged in Puzhal prison, was in touch with two associates of Sakir Hussian and gave them the fake notes with face value of over Rs.2.5 lakh,” NIA sources said.
Sri Lankan Sakir Hussian was arrested by TN police in April this year for alleged espionage activities for Pakistan’s ISI.
He was reportedly collecting details of the US consulate in Chennai, the Israel mission in Bengaluru and Indian naval bases in Kochi and Vizag besides Madras high court and AIR building Chennai.
The TN police also arrested two of his associates – Siva Balan, a native of Sri Lankan and Mohamed Salim of Chennai - with counterfeit currencies. Two weeks later, the Malaysian police arrested Sakir’s associate, Mohamed Husnie, in Kuala Lumpur. Husnie had confessed to taking part in the plot to attack foreign missions in Chennai and Bengaluru.
The Sakir Hussian case was taken over by NIA earlier this month.
NIA had informed Rafeeq in Puzhal central prison that he was arrested for his links with the spy case and will soon be seeking his custody for detailed interrogation.
The NIA team believes that Rafeeq, who has established good contacts in Malda district in West Bengal on the India- Bangladesh border, had supplied the fake notes seized from Sakir Hussian’s associates Siva Balan and Mohamed Salim.
Rafiq, 29, a resident of Vysarpadi was arrested along with his associate in the first week of June by CB-CID with fake currency notes with face value of over Rs 9 lakh.
The CB-CID team had also seized a country-made pistol and two magazines of bullets along besides counterfeit notes from
them.
