Title - Bangladesh to Delhi via Lucknow in 22 hrs

Forget about SSB-guarded Nepal borders. Now currency peddlers have found a safe Bangladesh-Malda-UP-Delhi route to smuggle fake notes into India.But, this time the racketeers have recruited zone-wise couriers to carry the consignment safely without drawing police attention. This is what reveals the 12 busts in one year-nine by the Government Railway Police (GRP) and three by the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI). Sources say this is just the tip of the iceberg going by the figures which show how this route has now become popular with the currency peddlers.The route is spread all across the country's eastern frontiers bordering Bangladesh near Malda district in West Bengal, through the states of Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to finally reach capital city Delhi.The carriers board the train from Malda and reach Delhi in 22 hours."They usually travel in crowded general compartments and mix up with hundreds of people on the train," said a senior official of UP GRP.He said total fake currency to the tune of Rs. 36,71,000 had been recovered from 14 couriers in 12 months.The arrests were made in three UP districts along Malda to Delhi route with the maximum of six recoveries at Faizabad railway station and three at Mughalsarai and Varanasi railway stations.Other than the GRP, Central Bureau of Investigations arrested three persons including two women and recovered fake notes to the tune of Rs. 8.50 lakh from their possession at Lucknow's Charbagh railway station on October 4.The trio had been travelling through the same route train - Farakka Express.The CBI arrested a Moradabad youth with fake notes worth Rs. 2 lakh at Charbagh railway station on May 16. He too reached the city in a train - Farakka Express - from West Bengal and has plans to further move towards Delhi.The GRP official said the racketeers strategically hire carriers from different districts lying on the same route and are aware of the entire route.He said all 14 couriers arrested this year belong to the districts along the same route.He said the maximum of five persons were the residents of Malda, three were of Rajasthan's Bharatpur district which is adjoining to Delhi, two were of Bihar's Champaran while one each from Jharkhand's Shahbganj and Uttar Pradesh's Bijnore.Four other persons arrested by CBI hailed from Moradabad and Rampur.