PATNA: A special NIA court at Patna has convicted and sentenced a Fake Indian Currency Note (FICN) trafficker Mohd Ali Akhtar Ansari for trafficking FICN worth Rs 25 Lakh across India- Nepal border via Raxaul in East Champaran district in September, 2015. A Pakistani national, who presently stays in the UAE, had couriered the parcel containing FICN from UAE.
Ansari was sentenced to 20 years rigorous imprisonment by the NIA court in Patna on Friday. As per a statement issued by the NIA, the sentence was pronounced by its special court for his involvement in proliferation of FICN in India after convicting him on July 18 this year.
The case involved seizure of a parcel containing "high quality" FICN having face value of Rs 25 Lakh. Ansari had come to Raxaul to take delivery of the FICN consignment on September 30, 2015 and was subsequently arrested.
As per NIA statement, investigation had established that the seized FICN had been smuggled from a foreign country into India and the consignment was to be delivered to Abi Mohammad alias Nabi Mohammad of Nepal.
It also came to light during investigation that one Syed Muhammad Shafi, a Pakisatni national, who is presently residing in the UAE, had couriered the parcel from UAE through international courier service.
After thorough investigation by the NIA, a charge- sheet was filed in September, 2016 against Ansari. In the prison sentence pronounced by the NIA special court at Patna, 20 years of rigorous imprisonment has been awarded to Ansari along with a fine of Rs50,000 under section 16 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Punishment has also been awarded under several sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Raxaul has seemingly been a “soft target” of smugglers involved in illegally transporting FICN from foreign countries due to the porous India- Nepal border. The East Champaran Police had nabbed a gang of four racketeers of a FICN on July 16 from Chhatauni locality of Motihari town on Motihari-Raxaul NH- 28A and recovered FICN worth Rs8lakhs from their possessions. Earlier, one Sudhir Kushawaha was arrested near Motipur in a joint police action of East Champaran and Muzaffarpur in the first week of this month as he was wanted by the NIA in a FICN case. The police recovered FICN worth more than Rs1 lakh from his possession.
