Srinagar, Dec 4: In a new dimension to network of militancy financing, a bank manager in North Kashmir allegedly colluded with Al-Badar militants in circulation of fake money by supplying genuine notes in exchange of counterfeit ones.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is looking into at least five cases related to financing of militants, found that the bank manager had entered into a criminal conspiracy with Al-Badar and got fake currency with face value of Rs 20 lakh in exchange of Rs 10 lakh of genuine currency, official sources said.
The ED sleuths feel that this may not be a stand alone case and there could be a possibility that other bank officials may be colluding with militant groups to exchange Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN).
In this case, a bank manager at Rafiabad in North Kashmir was arrested by Jammu and Kashmir Police last year and during the course of investigations it was found that he had allegedly conspired with militants. There have been some cases where fake notes have even been received by customers from Automated Teller Machines and the sleuths believe that these fake notes might have been mixed with genuine one, the sources said.
Sources in central agencies believe that the North Kashmir's Sopore, Rafiabad and Lolab belt were highly susceptible to injection of fake currency and have asked banks for strict monitoring of deposits.
The Enforcement Directorate has got into picture after the Union Home Ministry asked the finance ministry to look into various spheres of cases which involved financing of militancy.
The ED has so far registered five cases including where four traders engaged in business across the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir were booked by Enforcement Directorate in connection with alleged hawala racket for Lashker-e-Taiba outfit.
The Centre has constituted Combating of Funding of Terrorist (CFT) cell within the Union Home Ministry. This is the first such cell and functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs but will be headed by an officer of the Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax), the sources said.
The cell liaises with agencies like the Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Income Tax Department, Enforcement Directorate, CBI and Directorate General of Customs and Central Excise Intelligence and scrutinises information collected from central police organisations and the Financial Intelligence Unit.
Terror Funding and Fake Currency (TFFC) Cell in National Investigation Agency (NIA) has also been constituted to focus on investigating the flow of money to anti-national activities.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 4 Dec 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 4 Dec 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 5 Dec 2011 00:00:00 IST