New Delhi, October 15: The "high-quality" fake currency notes have returned to the Indian market, Alok Mittal, Inspector General (IG) of the National Investigative Agency (NIA), said. One of the reasons cited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016, when he announced demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, was to wipe out counterfeit notes in circulation. The NIA chief also said that Pakistan was the main source of printing of fake Indian currency. Naxals Getting Organised Funding to Spread Terror in the Country, Says NIA Inspector Alok Mittal.

Mittal shared a presentation at the national conference of chiefs of Anti-Terror Squads (ATS) of state police on fake Indian currency notes (FICN). National Security Advisor Ajit Doval was also present at the event. At the meeting, the circulation of high-quality FICN was cited as one of the six major emerging challenges by the NIA, The Hindu reported. The agency has so far investigated 48 such cases, of which 13 ended in conviction. Pakistan Likely to Crackdown on Terror Groups Operating From its Soil, Under Biggest Pressure From FATF: NSA Ajit Doval.

While Pakistan is the main source of high-quality fake Indian currency, Bangladesh had emerged as the source of low-quality FICNs, Mittal said. The IG added that the high-quality notes were being pushed through the "western border and Nepal". He also shared intel on the growing network of terror outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). He said that the JMB had been trying to spread its base in South India.

Mittal said that from the years 2014 to 2018, the JMB has set up 20-22 hideouts in Bengaluru. "The JMB even conducted a trial of rocket launchers in the Krishnagiri hills along the Karnataka border...the JMB was keen to attack Buddhists temples to take revenge for the plight of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar," the IG was quoted as saying.

Mittal said that between the years 2008 and 2014, the terror outfit spread its influence in Assam and West Bengal. It planned to form the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen India in 2017, he said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 15, 2019 10:01 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).