More evidence from the Hindu that Demonetization was a either one of the most colossal blunders of modern Indian history or a sophisticated attack on the Indian economy:

The Border Security Force (BSF) and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) intercepted four consignments of  2000 notes between December 2016 and January this year from areas near Malda district.

With the quality of the fakes improving over time, the seizure has set alarm bells ringing for intelligence agencies and security forces.

“The notes have copied the geometric patterns and the colour scheme both on obverse and the reverse side including watermark, and the exclusive number pattern of the 2000 currency. Unlike samples seized elsewhere which were scanned or colour photocopies, these have been printed using sophisticated dyes,” a senior security officer said.

More than half of the 17 RBI-listed security features have been replicated.”

The notes were seized from Mohammad Ashraful and Ripon Sheikh from Malda district.

Please note that Malda district is in West Bengal. It shares a 223 km in total international border with Bangladesh and is a hub of the fake currency racket.

This 12 sq-km triangle with 18 villages, 40km from Malda town, have turned into the entry point of 40% fake Indian notes being pumped into the country through the porous border.

Malda, particularly the three Kaliachak blocks, have always been known as the smuggling point for fake currencies, but the situation has taken a turn for the worse in the past five years. According to a recent NIA report, 80% fake currencies are sneaked into the country through the 172-km porous border along Malda district, and 55-60% of the consignments from Bangladesh are circulated from the villages in 12 sq-km triangle.”

While demonetization had a temporary effect on Malda’s flourishing fake currency business,  it was expected that the trade would resume in the space of 1-3 months.

“We are looking at a time frame of one month to three months before we make the first seizure of a fresh consignment of fake Indian currency, this time most likely Rs 100 notes,” said a senior BSF officer who did not want to be identified.”

But it’s not the 100, but the  new 2000, that has had half the security features successfully faked. Which leads one to question the whole rationale of demo itself, because a large bill of that kind would be much more attractive to counterfeiters in the first place.

Meanwhile the network of couriers dispersing the notes continues:

“The movement is done in chains,” explained a security official who did not want to be identified. “From the point of origin of the consignment in Bangladesh to the destination in Kaliachawk, there would be no less than 20 to 25 couriers in each chain. Each person in the chain normally covers a distance of 100 meters to hand over the consignment to the next one in the chain. It is an intricate network and very difficult to trap and dismantle.”