A bilateral meeting between the Joint Task force of India and Bangladesh was held on Wednesday to tackle smuggling of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN).
The Joint Task Force of India and Pakistan discussed bilateral measures to combat the smuggling and circulation of fake currency notes. The three-day meeting was held to discuss ways to strengthen the bilateral mechanism between the two countries.
The Indian delegation was led by Anil Shukla, Inspector General, National Investigative Agency (NIA). On the other hand, the Bangladesh delegation was headed by YM Belalur Rahman, Deputy Inspector General, Bangladesh Police.
The two countries expressed their concern over the illegal smuggling of Fake Currency Notes (FCN) and its “destabilizing influence” on the economy.
The Indian Delegation shared information about the prominent cases of FICN smuggling in Bangladesh. They also apprised the Bangladeshi counterpart about the prominent criminals in FICN syndicates. Both the countries stressed on the need to come up with a mechanism that can provide authentic information regarding FCN/FICN operatives. It was decided during the meeting that the Nodal Officers from both the countries will serve as contact points for sharing information regarding FICN/FCN.
“The Indian side also suggested the Bangladeshi side to conduct an operation on suspicious bank accounts of bordering areas of Bangladesh through BFIU of Bangladesh Bank to monitor suspicious accounts having unusual movement of funds, such as dummy accounts or mule accounts and raise a red flag for further analysis to dismantle the network of FICN racketeers,” officials said in a press release.
“It was also highlighted that during detection, FICN operatives based in third countries beyond India and Bangladesh, add a challenge in curbing the menace. Both countries resolved to jointly fight the same with fullest cooperation,” officials added.