Police arrested six money counterfeiters, caught with a large number of fake notes and with equipment, from Dhaka’s Mirpur area on Monday night.
Police said the arrestees had also produced counterfeit foreign currencies and distributed them throughout the nation through their local associates.
These arrestees are Badsha Miah, Abdul Jalil, Joynak Khandekar, Bayejid Bostami, Mohsin Wasim and Sohag.
Joint Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Detective Branch unit Monirul Islam said the raid was conducted by the Detective Branch on Monday night in different areas of Mirpur.
“Fake currency worth Tk12 million and various counterfeiting equipment and supplies were recovered from them,” he said.
He added that police also recovered equipment that proved they had made counterfeit foreign currencies, as there is a high demand for them in the city.
These fake currencies include Indian rupees, dollars and various European currencies.
Counterfeiting syndicates target festivals like Eid and Puja, when there is a large exchange of money, to circulate their fake notes, the law enforcers said.
Associates of Badsha Miah provided the required paper to maintain the marks of money. Badsha, along with the other arrestees, printed Tk500 and Tk100 notes using the papers.
Later, Mahabub Mollah, Selim Miah, Hanif Gazi, Jaman, Imon, Saju and others distributed the money throughout the country, the official said.
According to the DB, some 25 gangs with 10-12 members in each are active throughout the country. Among them, some 45 members were arrested in the last year. Many of them are now on bail and involved again in the same crime.
To stop the distribution of counterfeit money, DMP Commissioner Asaduzzaman Miah on Monday afternoon said to reporters that police have set up fake currency detection machines at the cattle markets.
