Indian agencies have decided to seek the help of the US Secret Service, whose agents guard the President of the United States and other VIPs, to check the menace of fake Indian currency.
The USSS was established in 1865 with the mandate of suppressing counterfeit currency. Even today, its primary investigative mission is to safeguard the payment and financial systems of the US.
The circulation of fake Indian currency notes (FICN) has become a big national security threat to India as a source of “terror funding” along with posing a challenge to efforts by Indian agencies to stonewall attempts to destabilise the economy. Last year, fake Indian currency worth several hundred crores was seized by law enforcement agencies in the country. Indian agencies accuse Pakistan’s ISI of running an organised cartel for printing and pumping FICN primarily to fund terror on Indian soil.
A ministry of home affairs team will visit the US next month to meet Secret Service agents and discuss aspects of “terror funding”. During the closed-door meet, the MHA team will be looking at fresh techniques to combat counterfeiting and pin down Pakistan’s role.
The meetings are scheduled in Washington between November 5 and 10. CBI and NIA representatives will also attend. Efforts to work jointly with USSS officials on counterfeit currency follow decisions taken at the Indo-US homeland security dialogues.