Kolkata, Nov 9 (IANS): In a major crackdown, the Special Task Force (STF) of Kolkata police have busted a major fake Indian currency note (FICN) racket, arresting one person and recovering fake currency with face value of over Rs 12 lakh.

The person arrested in this connection has been identified as Altaf Shekh, 23, said an official of the city police.

"A total of 2,400 pieces of Fake Indian Currency Notes, each holding a face value of Rs 500 has been recovered from his possession," the police official said.

The arrested accused is a resident of Baishnabnagar, close to the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal's Malda district.

Police are now interrogating him to know the sources of such a huge consignment of FICN.

The investigating officials suspect the involvement of an international FICN racket involving Bangladeshis.

This is for the third time within a gap of less than two months that a FICN racket has been busted in the city.

On October 10, the STF arrested two persons with a huge consignment of counterfeit notes.

A total of 600 fake notes of face value of Rs 500 each have been recovered from them. The two persons arrested in this connection were identified as Rezaul Karim and Jamirul, and also residents of Baishnabnagar area in Malda district.

On September 18 this year, the sleuths arrested a person with 300 pieces of fake currency of face value Rs 500 each from his possession. Incidentally, the arrested person was also a resident of a village close to the Indo-Bangladesh borders in Malda.

"With the phasing out of the Rs 2,000 denomination notes, the FICN dealers have again shifted back to circulation of forged currencies of Rs 500 forged values, which is evident from the all recent seizures," the city police official said.