The Delhi Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate seized 203 sheets of high-quality paper with embedded security threads inscribed with ‘RBI’ and ‘Bharat’. The consignment, which arrived from Hong Kong on January 24, 2025, at the New Courier Terminal (NCT) in Delhi, prompted the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) to take over the case on February 3, 2025, considering its significant economic security ramifications.
In swift follow-up action, the DRI arrested two individuals identified as the actual importers of the currency paper in Ghazipur District, Uttar Pradesh, and Bengaluru, Karnataka. Additionally, the intended recipient and buyer of the paper was apprehended by the DRI in Rajasthan on February 9, 2025. The recipient admitted to previously purchasing currency paper from the importer for the purpose of printing fake Indian Currency Notes. A search of his residential premises in Bhiwani District, Haryana, led to the recovery of various incriminating items, including a printer and partially printed fake Indian currency notes. The matter was handed over to the Haryana Police for further action and investigation under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
As part of the same operation, the DRI intercepted two more individuals in Thane District, Maharashtra, and found various incriminating items such as photoshop files with different typesets of the Rs. 500 currency notes and currency paper with security threads. The matter was handed over to the Maharashtra Police for further action under BNS.
The individuals in Thane and the one in Haryana, who were found to be engaged in printing Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN), have been arrested by the Maharashtra and Haryana Police respectively. FIRs have been registered in both cases under BNS based on complaints made by DRI officers.
