2 Hawala Operators Arrested, Rs 10 L Seized

Hyderabad: Sleuths of Central Zone Task Force during vehicle checking on Wednesday night intercepted two hawala operators on a bike at Chirag Ali lane in Abids and seized Rs 10 lakh from their possession.

The accused Manprith Singh, 38, a scrap dealer and Shaik Arshad, 22, an office boy who were travelling on a motorcycle were carrying Rs 10 lakh unaccountable cash, police said.

On being questioned about the source of the money, they were not able to produce any valid or supporting documents pertaining to the amount.

Manprith, a resident of Amberpet, engaged Arshad of Asifnagar as an office boy.

During investigation, Manprith confessed that he came in contact with hawala money transfer agents and was involved in organising illegal money transfer business clandestinely. Manprit was supplying money to hawala brokers particularly in metropolitan cities and used to communicate with operators and customers through SMS and WhatsApp chats using special code, police said.

The accused were found delivering hawala money in order to evade tax to the Income-Tax Department and get commission on hawala money transporting.

“They were on their way to deliver the unaccounted hawala money to customers when they were arrested at Abids,” Nitika Pant, DCP Task Force, said.