West Bengal (Islamist/Other Conflicts): Timeline (Terrorist Activities) -2012

In a joint operation, a special team comprising personnel of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the Border Security Force and the West Bengal Police arrested one Morgen Hossain (23) of Malda in West Bengal on January 9, reports The Hindu. Investigators seized Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) worth INR 27,000 from Hossain, suspected to be the kingpin of FICN operations in India. Based on his information and specific intelligence inputs, the agency conducted raids in New Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal and arrested 10 suspects. They arrestees included Habibul Rahaman (26), Abdul Mutalik (25) and Prashant Mondal (23) of Malda working in Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Manik Sheikh (24) of Malda, Bahadur Yadav (30) of New Delhi, Sajib-ul-Haq (20), Anwar (21), Jamal Sheik (24) and Akram (19) of Malda working in Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh). High-quality FICN printed in Pakistan and smuggled into India via Bangladesh were recovered from their possession, Police sources said. Almost all the accused were employed as construction workers, the sources said. Hossain was alleged to have agents across the country who entered different States in the guise of construction workers. Their modus operandi was to circulate FICN of denomination INR 1,000, INR 500 and FICN 100. Unemployed youth of Malda were lured into the network and sent to different States to distribute the FICN. They would make small purchases in shops using FICN. Another modus operandi was to exchange by offering three times the quantum against original currency. “The quality of FICN is almost 98 per cent accurate. Only an expert using relevant equipment can detect that it is a fake note. The prime suspect and his main associates are part of a gang that is operating at the behest of a terrorist organisation,” an investigator said. The original currency gathered by the accused in various States would be deposited in the bank account of Hossain and they would get a commission for it. “We have asked bank officials to freeze the bank accounts of the suspects and further investigation is on to identify the entire network involved in the offence in India and abroad,” he added. The raids began across the country on January 8. Read less...

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has claimed to have busted a major Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICNs) racket and arrested 14 persons - including leaders of the gang operating out of Malda in West Bengal - during a nationwide swoop, reports Times of India. The accused were found to have direct links with their coordinators in Pakistan where these notes were printed. Four persons including the Indian kingpin Morgen Hussain were arrested from Malda while four others were arrested in Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh), three in Tamil Nadu and one each in Gulbarga (Karnataka), Moradabad (Uttar Pradesh) and Delhi. "Arrests show that the gang - part of an international network - had virtually a pan-India presence. Raids are still continuing in nine States including Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana and West Bengal," said an unnamed official. He added that the seizures and subsequent probe supported India's claim about Inter Services Intelligence’s (ISI) role in its grand design to "destabilize the monetary stability of India" through pumping in huge numbers of FICNs. "Such a high quality of FICNs cannot be printed without government-linked agency's role or support. Though NIA had mentioned this in its earlier charge sheet in similar cases of Mumbai, the current seizures and disclosures made by the conduits have substantiated the charges," the official said. Referring to interrogation of the accused and technical surveillance, the NIA claims that the gang used to get its consignment of high quality FICNs - printed in Pakistan - through its network in Bangladesh and Nepal. It was found during the probe that the FICN -- in denominations of INR 1000, INR 500 and INR 100 - were smuggled to Bangladesh via air route before finally reaching its destination in different north-eastern and West Bengal villages. Besides using usual smuggling network, suppliers of these FICNs in Bangladesh also used to throw the bundles of FICN into the Indian villages bordering Bangladesh. "The accused persons with their aides used to collect the said FICN and distribute the same to the agents spread all over the country," the agency said. "The gang members used to transport the FICNs through trains and other modes of transport to all the states for its circulation. The local agents used to collect 60% of the value of FICNs from the circulators in genuine notes," it added. As per the deal, the genuine currency was then remitted to the bank accounts of the key persons by depositing amounts to the maximum of INR 49,000 to avoid being detected as suspicious transactions. "The network used bank accounts and ATMs for transferring back the genuine currency earned out of circulating the high quality, high value fake currency to the suppliers of the same based in Malda. The raids, which had begun on January 6, have led to the recovery of large number of ATM cards, bank passbooks, SIM cards and FICNs," the NIA said. The agency, which got help from different State Police during the raids, has, meanwhile, alerted the Border Security Force (BSF) to tighten its vigil along the Indo-Bangladesh border in the entire north-eastern region. Read less...

The special task force of the Government Railway Police (GRP) in Howrah in West Bengal on January 28 arrested a three-member gang involved in the transportation of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICNs) to Pune in Maharashtra, reports Times of India. The consignment apprehended was brought to Howrah from Jharkhand for onward movement to Pune. It is yet to be known whether the notes were printed in Nepal, Bangladesh or at some press in India itself. Several such raids conducted by security agencies in the last couple of years have established that Kolkata and Howrah are conduits for the movement of FICN to the rest of the country. Much of the FICN flows into the country from neighbouring Bangladesh and Nepal. Read less...