Following this, the Kolkata police have come up with a startling find: coins are now being melted by some groups to make shaving blades. It is apparently yielding better profits. The Reserve Bank of India has released coins worth Rs 40 lakh in the market to tide over the present scarcity. It has been operating some mobile counters to help traders, particularly the transport operators.

The Deputy Commissioner (II) of Kolkata police’s Detective Department, Manoj Kumar Verma, said some gangs are smuggling the small change to Bangladesh and Nepal. Mostly old five rupee coins have become scarce.

“We are facing the problem for the last three months,” Verma said. “We have identified some places in Kolkata, including Ultadanga and Maniktala, where there are certain joints. East Putiari near Tollygunj is one of the areas where coins are being stocked and then smuggled. We gathered information that in Bangladesh, these coins are melted to make shaving blades and idols,” Verma told the Newsline. The police, he said, will be raiding these places soon.

According to Enforcement Branch officials, the coins are smuggled to Bangladesh through Cooch Behar, Mathabhanga, Haldibari I North Bengal and Bongaon and Petrapole borders in North 24 Parganas. Two persons carrying the coins in sacks from a Calcutta-bound bus at Dhupguri were arrested a few months ago.

Residents of Bongaon, the duo had admitted to the existence of such a racket, police officials said the coins are melted and cast into blades.

Inspector General, BSF (South Bengal Frontier), Somesh Goyal said: “We have information about smuggling of coins from here. But we do not have any idea where these coins go.”