The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has informed a Kochi special court that a bulk of fake currency circulating in Kerala and other states in India was pumped at the behest of Anees Ibrahim, brother of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim. The NIA made this revelation in confidential report to the court.

The agency has alleged that Anees, along with another accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, Aftab Batki, is responsible for fake currency circulated in the country from 2007 to 2009. According to NIA, the source of counterfeit currency is a printing press in Quetta owned by Anees. NIA's allegations are based on the confessional statement given by Tahir Merchant, another 1993 blast accused and other circumstantial evidence. The NIA told the court that Merchant was also arrested in Sharjah in 2008 with fake currency with a face value of Rs 50,000.

He served a prison term for nine months. NIA has provided details of the Sharjah investigation as the background for their probe into the counterfeit currency network. Merchant was eventually deported.

The agency claims that Merchant has confessed that he was a "conduit" for the Dawood gang and its counterfeit currency racket. Merchant has allegedly divulged that Anees and Aftab Batki used a Pakistan native, Imtiaz Ibrahim, to act as as middleman with him. Merchant would then use his network to channel the currency to India.

Tahir, considered a close aide of Dawood Ibrahim and 1993 Mumbai serial blasts mastermind Tiger Memon, was working as manager of a carpet ship in Sharjah. He was arrested by the CBI following his deportation from Abu Dhabi in June 2010.

Mumbai-born Batki is believed to be at the helm of the D-gang's counterfeit currency operations, with his network spanning the UAE, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Thailand. An Interpol Red Corner Notice was issued against him in 2002. Batki's was one of the names mentioned in the list of most wanted fugitives hiding in Pakistan, which was discreetly handed over to Islamabad during Home Secretary level talks in Delhi in March 2011.

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