NIA arrests wanted fake currency racketeer in Karnataka FICN case of 2018

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday said that it has arrested absconding wanted racketeer of fake Indian currency notes (FICN) for the counterfeit currency case of Karanataka in 2018.

The arrested accused Sariful Islam is a resident of Babupura, Baishnabnagar in Malda district of West Bengal.

According to NIA, the investigation has revealed that arrested accused Sariful Islam alias Sarifulla used to procure FICN from absconding accused Saddam Sekh and Hakim Sekh who are citizens of Bangladesh for further circulation in Karnataka along with his co-accused persons. A reward of Rs 50,000 was announced by NIA for information leading to the arrest of Sariful Islam.

The FIR was initially registered on March 12, 2018 at Chikkodi police station in Belagavi district of Karnataka relating to the arrest of two FICN racketeers and seizure of FICN of the estimated value of Rs 82,000.

NIA had re-registered the case on April 14, 2018 and taken over the investigation. Special NIA court, Bengaluru had earlier convicted five accused persons in the case for their role in procurement and circulation of FICN and sentenced them to imprisonment for six years.

Sariful Islam is being produced before the special Sessions Court Malda.

Further investigation and hunt for the absconding Bangladeshi accused persons is underway.

( With inputs from ANI )