Notorious fake currency smuggler nabbed

KATHMANDU, AUGUST 13

• Allegedly the mastermind in Kamaladi’s 15 kg fake gold case
• In notoriety, he is second only to Yunus Ansari, who is in jail

Altaf Hussein Ansari

Police have arrested Altaf Hussein Ansari, a notorious fake Indian currency smuggler and the mastermind behind June 28 Kamaladi fake gold scam, from Bara district.

Senior Superintendent of Police Deepak Thapa of Metropolitan Police Crime Division, Kathmandu, said Altaf, 38, was being transported to Kathmandu after Bara police, acting on a tip-off, arrested him today.

Nepal Police had intensified search for Altaf after establishing his connection with Kamaladi’s 15 kg fake gold case. His involvement in the case was suspected after it was found that a vehicle (Ba 6 Cha 5511) used in the case belonged to him. Police said the case against him was strengthened after alleged smugglers arrested in the fake gold case ratted on him.

On June 28, gold smugglers managed to escape with the help of police personnel. However, police were able to retrieve 15 kg fake gold and half kilo genuine gold after the smugglers threw the contraband from the vehicle’s window and fled the scene.

A probe committee formed by the police had found that two police constables of the Metropolitan Police Circle, Durbar Marg — Bahadur Singh Kadayat and Prasanna Shrestha — had helped the smugglers escape.

A few days later, police arrested Nilesh Sakhiya, an Indian national from Nawalparasi. Sakhiya and his accomplice, Sanjay Patel, had entered Nepal on foot via a border point at Birgunj in a bid to smuggle the precious yellow metal.

They then contacted their acquaintance, Altaf, in Bara, seeking his help in smuggling the gold.

Following the June 28 fake gold scam, police have so far arrested eight persons of the racket, while Patel is still at large.

Altaf, who hails from Harpur, Prastokha-2 in Bara, is an alleged mastermind in several smuggling cases. According to police, Altaf was the Nepal-based kingpin for smuggling fake Indian currency to India via Pakistan.

He used to work for the criminal syndicate run by Dawood Ibrahim, an Indian mafia don. Police sources claimed that Altaf was a notorious smuggler, second only to Yunus Ansari, who was last nabbed with fake Indian currency notes worth INR 76.8 million from Tribhuvan International Airport on 24 May 2019. Ansari has been languishing in jail since then.

Altaf colluded with Ansari to run the smuggling racket earlier, but had to operate on his own after Ansari got arrested time and again. “International racket of fake Indian currency trusted Altaf due to under-performance of Ansari and his associates,” said a source. Altaf was also operating the criminal racket under the guise of a ‘social worker’, who donated to temples, mosques and schools in Bara and other places in the Tarai region, to win the confidence of locals.

Altaf was last arrested on 15 June 2015 as a fugitive. In 2009, Lalitpur District Court had sentenced him to three years in jail along with a fine of NPR 26.1096 million for his involvement in smuggling fake Indian currency with a face value of INR 5.4395 million which was seized from a rented room in Satdobato, Lalitpur.

He was back to the world of crime after his release from jail in 2018.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on August 14, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.

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