MALAPPURAM: After a short lull due to the ban of high-denomination banknotes, the network of hawala dealers is back with a vengeance. There were three major hauls of illegal cash in the district worth Rs 1.64 crore during the past three weeks - all in new Rs 2,000 notes - when banks were struggling to cope with the limited supply. Police believes their sources are private banks in Mumbai, Bangalore and Mysore. Six persons arrested with these three cases - all carriers- had no clues about the sources and the receivers, they said.
“It shows the hawala dealers are active even after the note ban. The questioning of carriers wouldn’t help to reach the real sources and getting bail from the court is much easy as well,” says P.M. Pradeep, DySP of Malappuram, who led two major hauls in a week from Manjeri. The cases are being handed over to Enforcement Directorate for further investigation. A hawala dealer in the district has also disclosed on condition of anonymity that the business is now back on track. “The note ban has not affected the business though there were some hiccups in November. There is also no issue with the availability of new currencies,” he said.
The police team led by Mr Pradeep had seized Rs 72 lakh of new currencies from Manjeri on Sunday during a raid followed by a tip-off from the Intelligence. It was the largest money haul in the state after the Nov 8 note ban. The money was found stashed inside the door pad of the car in which the carriers were travelling. A week ago the same team had seized '52 lakh from Manjeri. In December, a team led by Tirur DySP A.J. Babu had seized '39.9 lakh from hawala carriers.
