Malaysia promises to help India tackle fake-rupees issue

NEW DELHI: Malaysia has assured India that it will help the country combat the smuggling of fake rupees into Malaysia, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (pix) said yesterday.
He said he made the commitment during a closed-door meeting with his counterpart, Rajnath Singh, at the latter's office here on Monday.
"They made a request (asking for help) to tackle and combat this issue immediately. I was told these fake rupees were printed outside India and smuggled into Malaysia.
"We need to get details of the matter and so I have called our Royal Malaysian Police for immediate action even though there is no formal written request," he told the Malaysian media here yesterday.
Ahmad Zahid, who is also home minister, said the smuggling activity did not occur through India but via other countries, with the fake rupees circulated in Malaysia for use in trade and other transactions.
He said other matters discussed were the need to set up a joint working group between the respective Malaysian and Indian ministries to finalise agreements on a few aspects, such as strengthening collaboration on the exchange of intelligence, and cooperation in combating drug-smuggling and transborder crime.
They had also agreed that Malaysia and India should not be made a transit for illegal workers or terrorist groups.
On cyber security threats, Ahmad Zahid said India believed this could be tackled via the counter-messaging centre recently launched in Kuala Lumpur.
He noted that the same cooperation had been applied between China and Taiwan and this template would be used by India to tackle the cyber security threats.
"If we do not curb this cyber security crime, it may spread widely and go out of control," he said, adding that currently there is only one such facility in the United States and another in Dubai.
It was reported that Malaysia would set up its first counter-messaging centre to curb the influence of Daesh militants in the cyberworld, announced by Najib last March. – Bernama