With smuggling of fake Indian currency notes from across the Bangladesh border being a major concern, the Border Security Force (BSF) Saturday said it was in the process of setting up machines to detect fake currency at border outposts across West Bengal.
Observing that around 70 percent of the Indo-Bangladesh border crimes occurred in six districts of West Bengal, BSF Additional Director General B.D. Sharma said installations of the machines would start soon, beginning with 82 sensitive outposts.
"FICN is a major issue which we have raised with our counterparts- the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB). While both the forces have been making seizures, we feel the installation of detecting machines is imperative," he said.
The machines are inexpensive, said Sharma, adding the procurement process for them has been initiated and they will be installed soon across 523 functional outposts beginning with the 82 sensitive ones.
Sharma also said the process of setting up a BSF- BGB joint task force for preventing FICN smuggling was also on.
"The BGB have agreed for the joint task force but unfortunately it could not be finalised. However, we have begun the process and the initiative will become a reality sooner than later," he said.
Sharma also contended that the districts of North 24 Parganas, Malda, Murshidabad, North and South Dinajpur were prone to cattle and FICN smuggling, which accounted for around 70 percent of total Indo-Bangladesh border crimes.
"Life of our boys across the south Bengal frontier is very tough with so much of crime taking place. Moreover, a large part of the border being riverine, that only adds to our hardships," he added.
