Fake currency haul may surpass five-year record

Today's single haul of fake currency from south-west Delhi may enter the record books as it may surpass in final count the total amount of counterfeit notes city police seized in the past five years.

The initial count of today's seizure from Dabri suggests a haul of over Rs six crore, which is close to the total of Rs 8.39 crore counterfeit notes Delhi Police recovered in 210 cases over the past five years.

Police, in the past five years, seized fake currency with a face value of Rs 8,39,07,790, USD 5,800 and 2,000 Euro with 2008 topping the list with counterfeit notes of Rs 5.91 crore.

Last year saw the least recovery in the past five years with fake notes with a face value of Rs 28.20 lakh being recovered in 44 cases.

"Today's seizure is one of the biggest seizures of fake currency in the country," Delhi Police Commissioner B K Gupta said.

According to Delhi Police statistics, 2007 saw the second highest seizure with fake notes with a face value of Rs 1.01 crore in 45 cases followed by 2009 (fake notes of Rs 88.39 lakh in 47 cases) and 2010 (fake notes of Rs 28.84 lakh in 33 cases).

An analysis shows that Rs 100 note appears to be the favourite among counterfeiters as it is the most seized currency in the past five years.

Though 41,710 counterfeit notes of Rs ten denomination was seized in 2010, police officials say it was an abberation and Rs 100 note is the most counterfeited note.

Police figures show that 34,606 fake notes of Rs 100 denomination, 28,536 notes of Rs 500 and 12,167 counterfeit notes of Rs 1,000 denomination were seized in the past five years.

For Rs 50 denomination, the     number was 6,492, for Rs 20 it was 257 while not a single Rs five fake note was recovered in the past five years.

This year, Police's Crime Branch recovered fake currency with a face value of Rs 91,000 were recovered and two persons were arrested.

Fake note suppliers in Delhi and other places used to buy fake notes at a rate of 50-60 per cent of the face value of the counterfeit note and used to sell it for 70-80 per cent of the face value, the official said.

"Seized counterfeit Indian currency notes have most of the security features of genuine currency notes and for a man on the street it would be difficult to find the difference on mere looking," he said.