Fake currency smugglers have links with RAW: police

Investigators have found links between a gang busted in February for manufacturing and selling fake currency in Lahore and India’s spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

According to initial investigation, the suspects were in contact with RAW agents in Afghanistan and used to smuggle fake currency into Afghanistan from Pakistan.

On February 26, a police team arrested seven people and seized from them a huge stash of fake currency, including US dollars and UAE Dirhams, in a raid on a factory in Lahore.

Senior police officer Umar Virk said the fake currency was worth millions of US dollars.

“Immediately it is difficult to estimate the exact amount because it is huge quantity of fake currency,” Virk said.

The City Police recovered machines, equipment, chemicals and a large amount of other material used to print fake currency. Officers had been searching for the facility for some time and had recently raided a number of houses, Virk said.

The police and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) have arrested dozens of criminal gangs involved in production of fake currency in the past but the recovery of such a huge quantity of local and foreign currency is rare.