It now seems India's sudden and shocking decision to immediately demonetize its 500-rupee and 1,000-rupee banknotes effective Nov. 9 was an effort to stop Pakistan from mass producing more counterfeit banknotes to fund terrorist groups attacking India while making a hefty profit in return.

Like Us on Facebook

India has long known Pakistan has been printing fake Indian bank notes at Pakistani government printing presses in Punjab and Balochistan province. The banned Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknotes are the most widely used among all Indian banknotes.

The Rupee comes in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1,000.

Pakistan's multi-billion rupee "Fake Indian Currency Network" (FICN) has been dealt a "body blow" by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to demonetize the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, claim top officials battling the FICN.

India alleges Pakistan used a complex network of couriers and banks to flood India with counterfeit currency printed at Pakistani government mints.

Sources at India's security services told media that Pakistan realizes the fake rupees it was printing couldn't destabilize a huge economy of India's size.

Instead, the Pakistanis used the bogus rupees to fund terror operations in Jammu and Kashmir, as well as those in Maharashtra and Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Bengal and Bihar.

Money was routed through Nepal, Bangladesh, Dubai, Thailand and China. By demonetizing the Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, the entire counterfeit network has been destroyed, claimed intel sources.

Indian intel also said Pakistan's spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which is behind the fake rupee operation, makes an annual profit of some $75 million from this caper. Around $240 million in fake Indian rupees entered India from abroad in 2010.

Operations of Pakistan's FICN are said to be so extensive it was printing rupees on a scale that surprised the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India, Ltd (SPMCI), which produces all of India's currency at four mints and four printing presses.

Forensic examinations of fake Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes by SPMCI concludes these bogus notes were manufactured at regular currency making machines owned by a sovereign government such as Pakistan.

SPMCI also said some of the pivotal parameters of the fake rupees and Pakistan currency notes bear similar values.

"Nobody had the guts and moral courage to nail the widespread fake Indian currency racket since the abyss of corruption was very deep," said Vikram Singh, former Director General of the Uttar Pradesh Police.

"PM Modi has taken the bull by the horns and by demonetizing big currency notes all anti-India forces lose."

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Research and Analysis Wing and other Indian intelligence agencies have long exposed Islamabad's efforts to buy ink and paper far in excess of its requirement to print Pakistani currency.

Intelligence agencies have also documented Pakistan's acquisition of printing press and security printing inks from Germany and Switzerland. India claims Pakistan's purchase of the special paper used to print currency is far in excess of its own requirements.  The excess must be used to print fake Indian rupees.

"In fact Pakistan is printing more (fake) Indian currency than its own currency,'' said Dr. Nirmal Singh, deputy chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

Intelligence sources quoted by Indian media said their investigations revealed that HBL Pakistan (Pakistan's largest bank) used branches of a local bank in Nepal along the India-Nepal border to transport fake rupees into India.

The same sources claim Modi's demonetization has crippled the nexus of the FICN. It said all the large denominations held by Indian currency separatists, terrorists and over ground workers of terrorist organizations are worthless.

"Their money power has been destroyed,'' said the sources.

TagsIndia, rupee, Rs 500, Rs 1, Rs 1000, Counterfeit, Pakistan, Inter-Services Intelligence, Fake Indian Currency Network