Seven foreign, local currency printers held

LAHORE

SSP CIA Muhammad Umar Virk has said that CIA police has arrested seven members of an international gang involved in printing and circulating fake foreign and local currency and recovered from them printing machines, papers and other items worth crores of rupees.

He disclosed this while addressing a press conference at CIA Kotwali, here Thursday. He said that besides Pakistan, complaints of fake currency were also being received from foreign countries, including a Gulf state and India on which CCPO Lahore Capt (R) Muhammad Amin Wains assigned a special task of arresting the gangs and various teams of CIA worked round-the-clock for this purpose.

CIA City Police team got information from reliable sources that some persons involved in printing of local and foreign currency were circulating fake currency at duty-free shop and near Data Darbar, on which, police team conducted a raid and arrested accused Umar Sohail, Shehzed Khan and Ali Raza from the Data Darbar area. 

They disclosed that they used to print fake currency in a house at Mughal Park, Band Road, on which a raid was conducted and four accused Anwar, Zehgam, Sherbaz Khan and Rasheed were arrested and a huge quantity of fake currency of the Gulf, India and Pakistan as well as machines, papers and dyes were recovered.

Muhammad Umar Virk said that the ringleader of the gang Zehgam was earlier also arrested by FIA for selling fake currency in various cities and sent to jail and was also an absconder of FIA. The police has also recovered machines, dozens of bundles of whitepaper used for printing notes, 75 dye plates, ink of various colours and cutting machines.

Replying to questions of mediamen, Muhammad Umar Virk said that according to initial investigation, the members of the gang deposited fake currency on ATMs in a Gulf state and took out genuine currency through ATM cards from other machines.

Replying to another question, he told that the accused sent fake currency to their accomplices abroad. 

Replying to a question regarding provision of fake currency to banned organisations, SSP CIA said that this was prior to say anything and final version can be given after the arrest of other members of the gang.