Fake currency a silent menace
Come the major festival times come the increased activity of the fake currency gangs. Taking a stock of the incidents of busting of currency gangs would reveal this dangerous phenomenon. And this has again been confirmed by the seizure of fake currency-making materials by the Rapid Action Battalion on April 24.
While it is difficult to exactly put a figure on the volume of counterfeit notes in circulation in Bangladesh, given that during Eid and other major festivals the retail sales go up three times the normal circulation to around Tk 10,000 crore per day, even a one percent infusion of fake notes not only affects the individuals but also has a very negative impact on the economy as well.
But it is not only for festivals that these groups work. Most of the gangs have cross-border linkages and fake currency is used to finance extremists and terrorist groups. Thus, apart from the economic impact of counterfeit currency, its effect on security has national and transnational ramifications. And the dangerous long-term consequences are something that we often tend to miss.
Interestingly, although every year one or two such gangs and dens are busted, the agencies have not been able to cap their activities for good. For one thing, the cases against the accused are long pending and in the absence of a specific law to deal with counterfeit money, there has been misuse of the laws being currently used to deal with these cases. But it is not enough to arrest the ground operatives. The godfathers behind the cartels must also be nabbed.
We would hope that the law ministry would quickly vet the draft law prepared by the Bangladesh Bank to deal specifically with the production and circulation of counterfeit currency notes in the country.
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