Counterfeit note printing on the rise

14 November 2011 06:30 pm

The printing of counterfeit currency notes are on the increase with 62 such incidents reported during the first nine months of this year alone, as against 38 reported the previous year, police department reports say.

The reports say that 52 cases were detected in 2009,  34 in 2008, 37 in 2007, 28 in 2006,  35 in 2005 and 43 in 2004.

Asked for a comment in this regard, the Central Bank’s Governor Ajith Cabraal said, highly sophisticated features had been introduced in the present currency notes, therefore it was difficult to counterfeit them.

“Detections have been easy for the authorities concerned because of these sophisticated features. If anyone tries printing counterfeit notes, he or she will easily get caught,” he said.

As a result, Mr. Cabraal ruled out the need to introduce new laws to deal with such cases. (By Kelum Bandara)