Fraud: FIA nabs three men, $40,000 in fake currency seized

The suspects, including two brothers, were arrested in seperate raids.

KARACHI:

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has claimed that they have nabbed three men for their alleged involvement in the fake currency business, seizing a total of $40,000 in counterfeit notes from them on Wednesday.

Two brothers, Naeem and Faisal, were caught by the FIA in the first raid in PECHS. This led them to their third accomplice, Salman.

FIA’s Crime Circle Deputy Director Akbar Baloch, while confirming the arrests, said that his department took action after they received a tip-off about the suspects, who “cheat people who are going abroad”.

“We had information about the group for dealing and selling US dollars with a 25% discount from the market,” Baloch explained.

Baloch said they trapped the men by sending informers to make a deal with them at a teashop in Alfalah Market in PECHS, Block 2. As soon as the deal was finalised, the FIA officials and the police raided the shop and arrested the two brothers, initially seizing $10,000 from them.

During interrogation, the accused confessed that they had another $10,000, and the FIA raided their house in PECHS, Block 6 to find the fake money.

They also revealed information about their third accomplice, Salman. The team raided Salman’s house in Jehangirabad and arrested him with $20,000 in fake currency notes.

“Of the total $40,000 in fake currency that was seized, $10,000 was unprepared, while the remaining was prepared,” Inspector Salman Waheed told The Express Tribune. The men used to sell “carbon copies” of the US dollars which would look like the real thing after a chemical wash.

The FIA believes that a fourth accomplice, Rafiq, is the mastermind of the group and runs the racket. The arrested men confessed that they were dealing the money in Karachi but claimed they did not know anything about the printing or the main supplier. They said they only know Rafiq, who provided them with the currency.

“We are trying to catch Rafiq, who is a resident of Orangi Town, by tracing his phone calls,” said Waheed.

According to Waheed, fake currency was being printed in neighbouring countries, including Afghanistan, Iran and later in Pakistani cities such as Lahore and Gujranwala.

“We have informed the State Bank of Pakistan and with their help, along with the US Consulate, we can trace where the money is being printed by checking the serial numbers on the previously seized fake dollars,” explained Waheed.

An FIR, No. 12/11, under sections 489-B and 489-C has been registered against the men.

Separately, Crime Circle officials have arrested Mohammad Amin, seizing fake revenue stamps from him. The suspect was previously arrested by NAB, along with accomplices, said Waheed.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19^th, 2011.