Currency trail: Hawala routes turn active again in Kerala

KOZHIKODE: The income tax department is tracking the inflow of hawala money into the state based on tip-offs on the attempts to convert  black money through the hawala network. When NRKs handover  dirhams worth around Rs 66,000 as per the current exchange value to the agents of the racketeers abroad, the kith and kin of NRKs back home would receive old currency of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations worth Rs 1 lakh here which they exchange in banks or elsewhere, said the official who preferred anonymity.

“We have alerted all other agencies as there is a chance to pump in fake money stocked somewhere in the name of old currency,” he added. A number of agents are now approaching the NRK families and their kith and kin in the state for the exchange.   Some women who approached the banks to covert old currencies  have landed in trouble at bank counters and one was arrested in Malappuram.  

In many banks,  staff members  were directed to destroy such fake notes and not to report it to the police as these women were the victims of the  hawala racket. “The fake note threat has made things tough for us,” said an agent from Malappuram.  It is true that the carriers pushed in fake currency with  the notes in transit. But there are only a few engaged in handling fake currency among the hawala carriers, he added.