Bengaluru: In yet another cross-country crackdown on fake Indian currency notes (FICNs), the National Investigation Agency last weekend arrested Amirul Hoque (22), a resident of Barpeta district in Assam, from the city and seized FICNs of face value of over Rs 5 lakh from his possession.
The NIA said that Hoque had collected the FICNs from agents in Malda district of West Bengal for circulation in Bengaluru and other cities in Karnataka. He was arrested after his accomplice Saddam Hussain gave him away.
Hussain, who is also a resident of Barpeta, was arrested in Visakhapatnam on September 21 last year by the officers of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), who had seized FICN of face value of over '5 lakh from him, while he was travelling in the Guwahati-Bengaluru Superfast Express with the contraband currency, when he was intercepted at Vishakapatnam. He told the DRI sleuths that he was “forcibly” inducted into the illegal trade of FICNs by Hoque.
The NIA, Hyderabad has registered cases against Hussain and Hoque under Sections 489-B and 489-C of Indian Penal Code and Section 16 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention UA (P) Act.
The agency had produced Hoque before the local court in Bengaluru on February 13 and was later taken to Vishakhapatnam on transit remand.
