Assam: Wanted FICN smugglers Sariful and Sajjadul arrested by police with fake notes worth Rs10 lakhs

Guwahati city police officials said that a team from the Garchuk police station and a Special Operations Group jointly conducted an operation on August 29 morning and arrested notorious FICN smugglers Sariful Islam and Sajjadul Islam and seized the fake notes amounting 10 lakhs in 500 Rupee denomination.

Both the arrested FICN traders are originally from Lakhimpur district in North Assam, which has been identified as the hub of FICN and fake gold manufacturing and smuggling.

Notably, Sariful Islam was arrested earlier on the charges of smuggling fake currencies and was on the radar of police for a long time. After getting out of jail earlier, the notorious smuggler is again involved in FICN smuggling. Police sources said that the arrested smugglers were in Guwahati for the last several days and were looking for potential buyers. On August 29 the duo went to the Lakhara area in the city to sell the fake notes.

Besides the fake notes, the police also seized a number of SIM cards and mobile phones from their possession.

On August 22,  in a major crackdown against FICN, the Special Task Force of Assam police apprehended three FICN racketers in Goalpara district.The arrested FICN dealers were identified as Md Anowar Hussain (52), Md Rafique Ahmed (47) and Md Krowel Marak (35). All of them are from Krishnai area of the Goalpara district in lower Assam. The operation was launched in Guwahati to nab the FICN dealers. But the trio somehow drove out of Guwahati city. The team intercepted a suspected vehicle in Krishnai area of Goalpara. STF stated “During the search operation, 29 bundles of FICN of 500 denominations were recovered from the vehicle.”

On August 8, Guwahati city police team from Dispur police station arrested 2 FICN dealers with huge fake currency notes. The arrested persons were Rasidul Haque and Faruk Ahmed, both from Sonitpur district. A total of FICN 1.03 Lakh in 500 denominations as well as fake gold items were seized from their possession.

Similarly, Guwahati police in the months of July and June also arrested FICN smugglers and recovered several lakhs of FICN from their possession. Md Saddam Hussain and Md Mahmood Hasan were arrested with 3 bundles of FICN (290 notes) of ₹500 denominations in July whereas city police seized a huge consignment of FICN of 24.5 lakhs of ₹500 denomination in June this year. One Ziabur Rahman (26) of Lakhimpur district was arrested while trying to set up a deal with the FICN. It should be mentioned that Assam police have busted several rackets of FICN dealers across the state and seized huge amounts of FICN and printing machines and arrested over two dozens of people.