Siliguri, May 26: It is a police tip-sheet with a difference. The manual asks bank officials to help them crack fake currency rackets that are thriving in the region.

It also seeks better co-operation from bank officials by furnishing “relevant records” of fake currencies detected in the course of their daily duties.

The police here have kicked off a sensitisation drive and have worked out the modalities to improve coordination with the banks as part of an effort to check and prevent circulation of fake currency notes.

What is worrying the police is the quantum of fake notes that is being circulated in the region almost regularly. The intelligence branch seized fake currency worth around Rs 1,80,000 (of Rs 500 denomination) from three persons near Sevoke last evening.

District intelligence inputs suggest that the Siliguri corridor is being used increasingly by various anti-national agents, especially the ISI, to pump in fake currency. Siliguri’s geo-strategic “vulnerability” is often utilised by the racketeers to distribute fake notes in the local market.

“The problem is bigger for Siliguri and Darjeeling since the culprits operating in these areas can sneak out of the country into neighbouring Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan easily,” a senior state intelligence branch official said.

The sensitisation exercise has pointed out the importance of intimating the police at the earliest, whenever fake currency is detected. “Often bank officials inform us rather late, which makes the job of the police difficult. On some occasions, the bank does not care to keep track of the persons who bring the fake notes. Our tip-sheets for the bank employees could work wonders for the police in tracking down the culprits,” Darjeeling superintendent of police Rajeev Mishra said.

Admitting that they often come across fake notes, an official of the Siliguri branch of the State Bank of India said: “In Siliguri, we often come across fake currency notes mostly in Rs 500 denomination. But we always inform the police when we detect them. We use ultra-violet detectors to check the quality of the notes. But sometimes the machines fail since the fake currency is of high quality.”