BAJAUR, April 17: Fake currency notes of Rs1,000 denomination have flooded the Bajaur Agency and other tribal territories for the last one week, locals and sources told Dawn on Thursday.

The political administration has constituted various raiding parties to nab persons involved in the circulation of counterfeit currency notes.

The sources said that the agencies had also arrested an accused on suspicion of having links with currency smugglers and those involved in its circulation in the local market.

The sources said that fake currency notes carried the same serial number (BN4944044) and were smuggled into the Bajaur agency from Afghanistan. They claimed that the hand of secret agency of the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan could not be ruled out.

The sources informed that billions of rupees fake currency notes of Rs1,000 denomination had also been supplied to other tribal agencies, adding that the serial number of the notes was the same.

An official told this correspondent on Wednesday that the political administration had adopted various measures to arrest the gangs involved in the business. He said that the levies force had arrested an accused, claimed to be the ring leader of a gang, in connection with the fake currency business, in a raid in the agency.

He said that the accused belonged to Afghanistan and a large amount of fake Pakistani currency was recovered from him. The official said that the detained Afghan had been handed over to the joint interrogation team for questioning.

The sources said that the possibility of some tribal elders’ involvement in the fake currency business could not be dismissed.