NIA breaks hawala network in Mumbai; 102 bags of cash, diamonds recovered in 4 trucks

Probe on to find out money laundering, cricket betting or politicians'money

IT seizure

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) along with the Income Tax department of Mumbai has busted a “well-oiled” hawala network recovering four trucks with 102 bags of cash, jewellery and diamonds estimated to be worth Rs 100 crore.

They were being transported to Gujarat by private couriers.  In the night long operation that started on late Monday evening, the investigators have detained 45 people who were acting as couriers.

Income Tax department has roped in bank employees to count the cash. Income tax official, who did not want to be identified, said it was inquiring into multiple angles including hawala or money laundering, cricket betting or politicians'money.

He added that it would be pre mature to give exact motive at this juncture but it will be revealed only after the investigations.

Senior officials of the NIA said that they had received specific information that hawala money was being transported in bags from Mumbai Central railway station to three places in Gujarat, Surat, Ahmedabad and Vadodara. Maharashtra home minister RR Patil told Business Standard that necessary police personnel, as desired by the Income Tax department, were immediately deployed for escort and bandobast.

“The NIA had received the information which was developed by the team. Since NIA doesn’t deal with cash, we asked the Income Tax department to evaluate the recoveries. We have so far not found it to be linked to a terror network but the investigation is still in progress. This seems to be a well-oiled hawala network and the people detained are only couriers,” said a senior officer of the NIA.

Swatantra Kumar, director general (investigations) told reporters that "Whatever is accounted for will be returned. Chances of cash being accounted for are less. If it was accounted for it would not have taken this route. Some packets have addresses and names. Angadias have come to claim the bags."However, he stated that the fact that cash being carried in bags in abnormal.

Members of the investigation team elaborated that in a couple of the recovered trucks, there were 15 people carrying 35 bags in each of the trucks. The officials said that of the total 150 bags, 50 bags contained only cash while the remaining bags had both cash and other valuable items.   

NIA members said that the people detained were “Angadia” who are part of the unofficial postal service which transports money, jewellery and diamonds to various parts of the country, especially Gujarat. The investigators pointed out that some of the Angadias were part of registered companies.

“It seems the diamonds and jewellery were meant for Surat but the source of these diamonds has to be ascertained. The Income Tax department will continue the investigation and find out who were owners of these diamonds and jewellery. The owners are real culprits who are needed to be traced,” the NIA officer added.

Explaining the nexus of Angadias in the entire racket, NIA members said that these people used to board the night train from Mumbai to Gujarat and used to deliver the bags to different people. “These couriers used to return to Mumbai during the day and board another train at night. Since lot of people use the rail network, they wanted to use the crowd to carry their illegal business,” said the NIA officer.