Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, July 29: Notwithstanding stringent measures taken to thwart their nefarious designs of spoiling the future of young generation and damaging the monetary stability, Jammu and Kashmir has remained a focal point for the cartels pumping in fake currency and indulging in drugs smuggling with the connivance of their mentors across the border and supporters within the State.
This can be gauged from the data about the seizure of counterfeit currency notes and quantity of narcotics seized by the different agencies in Jammu and Kashmir. No doubt seizure of fake Indian currency notes and huge quantity of narcotics is an achievement for the agencies concerned but the fact remains that such cartels are still working without any fear of law.
According to the investigating agencies, fake Indian currency notes are being pumped into Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country from neighbouring countries by creating a self-sustaining criminal network and number of such cartels cannot be easily presumed.
Though legal regime has been strengthened whereby production or smuggling or circulation of fake currency paper or any other material has been declared as terrorist act yet there is no let up in the cases of pumping of fake currency.
As per the official data available with EXCELSIOR, Rs 1.16 crore worth counterfeit currency was seized during the past four years (2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 (up to June 30) in Jammu and Kashmir. During the year 2011, a total of 6855 fake currency notes were seized in the State. Of these 2320 were recovered by different branches of RBI and 4535 seized by police.
Total value of these fake currency notes was worked out at Rs 38,63,590 and in this connection 39 FIRs were registered against 73 accused persons.
In 2012, a total of 7201 fake currency notes worth Rs 31,74,350 were seized and accordingly 17 FIRs were lodged against 30 persons. Similarly, in 2013, 26 FIRs were lodged against 45 persons following recovery of 6737 fake currency notes worth Rs 35,26,910. During the first six months of the current year, a total of 2281 fake currency notes worth Rs 11,0,2800 were seized and accordingly four FIRs were lodged against the accused persons.
In order to check this menace, the Union Ministry of Finance has been constantly upgrading the security features in the high value currency notes. Moreover, Reserve Bank of India has also strengthened the mechanism for detection of counterfeit notes by the banks.
Even a special coordination centre has been established in the Ministry of Home Affairs to share the intelligence/information amongst the different security agencies of State and Centre to counter the menace of circulation of counterfeit currency notes, official sources said.
The smuggling of drugs in Jammu and Kashmir has also remained a matter of serious concern for all the agencies as despite numerous measures about better coordination at various levels between different agencies, there is no perceptible improvement in the situation.
According to the official data, a total of 115084.87 kilograms of drugs were seized in 2011, 21736.32 kilograms in 2012 and 95237.82 kilograms in 2013 and 322, 261 and 285 cases respectively were registered under Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act during these years.
During the first six months of the current year, a total of 41905.67 kilograms of drugs were seized and accordingly 164 cases were registered. In the year 2011, 440 persons were booked under NDPSA while as 346 were arrested under this Act in 2012 and 401 in 2013. During the current year, 227 persons have been booked under NDPSA till June 30, 2014.
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