Mangalore, October 6: In a major crackdown on hawala operators, Mangalore Police have arrested 27 persons the city on Saturday and seized over Rs 78 lakh in cash that they had received through hawala transactions.
The arrested include youth and elders from different parts of the country including Karnataka, Guajarat and Maharashtra.
After a few days of watch, a team of police led by City Crime Branch Inspector H N Venkatesh Prasanna, raided a house near Ballal Bagh in the early hours of Saturday and hid there for several hours to catch the accused, who entered in along with cash bags one by one till evening.
Police have also seized 17 motor bikes and 25 cellphones from the arrested.
It is said that Suresh Kumar, a Gujarat based hawala kingpin had rented the house one year ago, and operating a hawala rocket with the help of many of his compliances.
According to sources, Suresh, who is working as an agent for Ms Patel Ashish Kumar Kanthilal and Co, in Ahmedabad, had his accomplices in various places, who would arrange the speedy dispatch of money without tax. But, they had to charge a commission of seven per cent, which was deducted from the recipient.
After sustained interrogation, the arrested confessed that they were members of a money laundering gang. They worked for commissions based on how much money they transported and handed over to various people, sources said.
Even though police had initially suspected that the hawala racket was funding terrorism, following the arrests police came to a conclusion that the accused did not involve in any terror related activities.
“It was mere a hawala racket. It was only to evade tax and hide black money," he said, Inspector Venkatesh Prasanna.
Investigations are on.
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