KATHMANDU: In what can be labeled as a major catch, Nepal Police arrested six people, including three Pakistani nationals, at the Tribhuwan International Airport (TIA) in Kathmandu on Friday afternoon in possession of fake Indian banknotes with a face value of IRs 76.7 million.
One among those nabbed is Yunus Ansari, a kingpin of fake Indian currency smuggling racket, who has been involved in the racket for more than two decades in Nepal.
Meanwhile, police arrested three Pakistani nationals as soon as they landed at TIA by Qatar Airways with two briefcases loaded with counterfeit notes with denomination of IRs 2000, according to SSP Sandeep Bhandari. Ansari was at the airport to ‘receive’ those three people.
The arrested Pakistani nationals are Muhammad Akhtar (passport number: AA134594 and tracking number: 10332025612), Nadia Anwar (passport number: CN1812032 and tracking number: 10341769589) and Nasir Uddin (passport number: AR2406432 and tracking number: 10301689178).
Likewise, police arrested two other Nepalis, Sahel Khan (Yunus’ relative) and Sujana Ranabhat (Yunus’ driver) from TIA.
Ansari, who was released from jail some months back, had served a jail sentence for his involvement in illegal banknote transactions.
Who is Yunus Ansari?
Son of former minister Salim Miya Ansari, Yunus has been dealing with counterfeit Indian currency notes for more than two decades. Yunus, who did not have good terms with his father, has been running a racket of fake Indian currency notes from Nepal as a part of anti-Indian activities of ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence agency.
Earlier, he had served jail term twice after being convicted in counterfeit currency notes cases.
Yunus was arrested on January 2, 2009, with counterfeit Indian currency notes with a face value of 2.54 million from the Tripureshwor-based Blue Bird Hotel. He was again arrested along with his two accomplices with fake Indian currency notes with a face value of 3.5 million on February 2, 2014, from Nakhipot of Lalitpur three months after his release from the jail.
He was shot at by a contract killer on March 10, 2011, while he was serving a jail term at the Central Jail after being convicted in counterfeit notes and drugs cases. He was targeted after he continued running fake notes racket from the prison. Yunus has been named ‘Babar’ by Pakistan’s intelligence agency. He had served as a Chairman of National Television.
India has been pressing Nepal time and again to take action on Yunus accusing him as a kingpin of fake notes racket.
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