ISI operative held in Lucknow with fake currency

A Nepali national, working for Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was arrested by Uttar Pradesh Police's Anti-Terror Squad Friday and fake Indian currency with face value of Rs.5 lakh seized from him, officials said.

The operative, identified as Ahmed Teli, was nabbed by the ATS at the Qaiserbagh bus station when he was about to board a bus.

Officials said Teli was a middle rung operative and was the conduit between the agency and the terror groups spread elsewhere.

"He used to fund terrorists and was a major operative in the fake currency racket being operated in the country from across the borders," an ATS official told IANS.

Additional Director General of Police Arun Kumar said when the operative was arrested, he had Rs.5 lakh of fake Indian currency notes, wrapped in The Dawn newspaper published in Pakistan.

ATS had been in pursuit of the ISI man for quite some time since after it intercepted conversations of fake currency exchanges.

Teli holds Nepali nationality, officials said, adding that he was being grilled to know further details of his network.

During preliminary interrogation, he told ATS sleuths that he has so far pumped in several crores of fake Indian currency since 2011.

He also said that he was assigned the task of recruiting young boys for the terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and to spy on Indian Army installations.

He has been handed over to to other security agencies for further interrogation.