Agartala, Sep 8 (IANS) Fake currency with the nominal value of Rs.500,000 was seized from a Tripura village bordering Bangladesh and two men were arrested, officials said here Tuesday.
The seizure and arrests were made during searches in Sobhapur village along the India-Bangladesh border, 60 km west of Agartala, Monday night by a joint team of Assam Rifles troopers and Tripura Police.

“Acting on a tip-off, the counterfeit notes in Rs.1,000 and Rs.500 denominations were recovered Monday night from Sobhapur,” said Tripura police spokesman Nepal Das.

The forged notes were concealed in a bag that was hidden in the bush.

Senior police officials, who were interrogating the arrested duo, suspect that the fake currency might have been supplied from across the border through a clandestine channel.

The police in Mizoram and Tripura in August and November last year busted an international fake currency racket and arrested six people, including a Myanmar national and a local bank manager.

The six were arrested from Mamit district of Mizoram and North Tripura district, and fake currency notes with the nominal value of Rs.1 million in Rs.100 and Rs.500 denomination was recovered.

A senior Tripura police official said Tuesday: “Security forces in the northeast India are on the alert for fake currency notes being circulated - strongly believed to be the handiwork of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan.”

He said that the matter came up for serious discussion at the recent high-level meetings of the region’s police chiefs held in Guwahati and New Delhi.

“ISI was pumping fake currency notes into the region (to destabilize the economy) along with guns, ammunition and other contraband items, often with the help of various insurgent groups,” the official added.

Fake currency in Rs.100, Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 denominations are mostly in circulation in the northeast region.

Nationalised banks and various other financial institutions in northeast India have taken a series of measures, including installation of fake note detection machines to identify fake currency.