Like every year, counterfeit money-making gangs have become active ahead of the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha.
During the Eid festival, a lot of money will be transacted in cattle markets due to the sale of sacrificial animals. Moreover, the gangs target traders and buyers of different markets where sales get momentum before Eid, said sources from law enforcement agencies.
According to law enforcement sources, renting houses in different residential areas of the capital, members of these gangs secretly set up fake money-making factories. Fake notes worth crores of taka are made there. They regularly change their addresses for fear of being arrested.
Nine people have already been arrested in the current month from the capital and different parts of the country for alleged involvement in making counterfeit money. Fake notes worth Tk 10 lakh have been recovered from their possession, according to police and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) sources.
Among them, three were arrested from Dhaka with fake notes worth Tk 2 lakh, one from Bogura with fake notes worth Tk 50,000, two with Tk 7 lakh fake notes from Gopalganj, two with Tk 1.2 lakh fake notes from Madaripur, and one was arrested with Tk 29,000 counterfeit money from Noakhali.
“These gangs become more active before different festivals. We have arrested many at different times, but unfortunately, they get out on bail and resume their misdeeds. However, we are working to prevent them and operations to arrest the members of such gangs are continuing,” said Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Deputy Commissioner (media) Faruk Hossain.
Two cattle markets targeted
On June 20, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested three including the leader of a gang, from Uttarkhan area of the capital, recovering fake notes worth Tk 2 lakh and machinery used in making fake money from their possession.
RAB-3 Commanding Officer Lt Col Arif Mohiuddin said that the gang has sold four consignments of counterfeit money in the last six months. They received an order to make Tk 8 lakh counterfeit money to spread in cattle markets to be set up at Kamalapur and Shahjahanpur in the capital before the upcoming Eid.
Claiming that the arrestees have disclosed the names of those who ordered to print the money, he said, “Work is underway to bring them under the law soon.”
Counterfeit money online
Arif Mohiuddin said that counterfeit money makers used to open pages and create groups on the social media platform Facebook to sell fake money. Law enforcers found various pages like A-grade Jalnote, Taka Chai, Jalnote, Jal Taka Bikroy Kori, Jal Takar Dealer, Jal Taka Bikroy Kendra, and Real Sales and Taka Business.
Members of the gang used to contact the persons who commented on their posts and were interested in buying fake money. Later, they used to hand over the fake money meeting the persons physically, he said.
Processing counterfeit money
Describing the process of making fake money, police and RAB sources said the gang members at first download images of different Bangladeshi notes from the internet and print those on Lippy Gold's thick and slippery offset paper. They print four fake notes on A4-sized paper and draw the pattern of safety thread using a golden colour marker pen. Finally, with the help of steel scale and anti-cutter, they cut the fake notes and prepare the bundles for sale.
In this way, the estimated cost of making fake money worth Tk 1 lakh is Tk 2,000, they said.
Meanwhile, sources from DNCC and DSCC said that counterfeit money detection machines will be installed in all the cattle markets in the capital to detect fake money. If anyone is in doubt then they can check the money.
