Malappuram police seizes Rs 1.50 crore in new notes

Malappuram: The district police  busted a  major hawala network in the state with the arrest of two persons and seizure of illegal cash worth Rs 1.50 crore in new Rs 2000 notes here on Monday.  This is the largest haul of high value notes in the state after  demonetisation. Following a tip-off, the  police team led by Perinthalmanna DySP M.P. Mohanachandran arrested the two natives of Vengara   with the cash from Manazhi bus stand in the town  around 5 a.m. on Monday.   The money was brought from Vijayawada where they traded gold for the money and was  to be distributed among jewellers at  Vengara,  said Mr Mohanachandran.

In December and January alone, the police had seized Rs 1.64 crore in new notes in three separate incidents at Perinthalmanna, Manjeri and Tirur in the district.  The police suspect  that smuggled gold is  being used for the illegal deals in liquid money to evade  taxes. “The people  being arrested  would easily get bail as the only offence involved is  tax evasion,” he said. The case will be handed over to the enforcement directorate for further investigation to trace the source of the money. Recently, a hawala dealer had  disclosed that there was  no currency crunch for the illegal dealings.  The money was  being arranged with the help of new generation banks in metro cities outside the state.