Excise raids lead to Rs 101.75 lakh hawala money at Muthanga

KALPETTA: The excise personnel seized Rs 90 lakh unaccounted money at Muthanga excise check post on Tuesday morning. Three persons, one from Telangana and two others from Andhra Pradesh were  taken into custody from a private bus coming from Hyderabad. The money packets of Rs 30 lakh  each were kept in three bags by the  three persons--Shravan, 35, Umamahesh Rao, 37, and Ganesh 22.

The trio told the officials that the money was to be handed  over to a  person in Kozhikode. The money and the accused will be handed over to the enforcement department at Kozhikode. Excise inspector K. Lalu, preventive officers K.K. Babu and K.K. Abdul Aziz among others participated in the raid. On Sunday, three natives of Kozhikode were arrested  at Thakarappadi, near Muthanga in Wayanad for trying to smuggle in Rs 3.24 core unaccounted money in a car from Bangalore to Kozhikode.

The police team led by Sulthan Bathery inspector P, Bijuraj was checking the vehicles near Muthanga, following a tip-off that a gang from Kozhikode was smuggling money in a car. The excise and police teams have intensified raids at the checkpost.

Rs 11.75 lakh seized

In another incident,  Rs 11.75 lakh was seized by the shadow police led by Vadakara DySP Prajeesh Thottathil near the RMS office in Vadakara on Tuesday. Thekkevellachalil Abdul Majeed, 42, Koduvally, was  taken into custody.  He was travelling by train from Kozhikode side to distribute the black money to the customers in Vadakara, said the police. One mobile phone and the detailed list of the customers were also recovered from him.