Kundapur: Three arrested for looting hawala money worth Rs 36 lac
Silvester D’ Souza
Daijiworld Media Network – Kundapur (EP)
Kundapur, Dec 31: Police have arrested three persons on charges of looting hawala money. Search is on for three more persons in connection with the case.
Ravi
It is said that Rs 36 lac of hawala money had come via a government bus from Bangalore to Bhatkal on December 24 in the form of a parcel. The accused who got information that the amount was received by a shopkeeper allegedly threatened him, took the entire sum and escaped. A case of robbery was registered in Bhatkal two days after the incident.
The Bhatkal police who took the matter seriously have arrested three persons. They are of Kundapur origin and identified as Ravi alias Ravichandra (34), a resident of Ayyappa compound of Nandanavan, Uppunda near Byndoor, Irfan Hemmadi, a resident of Santoshnagar of Hemmadi, and Ilahid, also of Hemmadi. The police are searching for three more accused - Altaf, Chandra and Mohd Izahid.
It is suspected that hawala money is being sent from foreign countries on a continuous basis and might have come in the form of parcels in the past. However, information such as who is the kingpin, who are the middlemen in Bangalore and to whom was the amount sent in Bhatkal will be known only after investigation.
The arrested are said to be accused in other cases as well, and the robbery was said to be planned by Ravichandra of Uppunda as per preliminary investigations. He was caught in a diamond smuggling case earlier. He is said to be involved in a case concerning sale of poppy seed oil at Bhatkal, cattle transport cases in Gantihole and so on. He is also said to have stolen a vehicle from the backyard of forest officials, used it for illegally transporting timber, and kept it back in its place! He also faces charges of trading a deer skin in 2010. His construction of a house valued at several lacs of rupees at Uppunda has given rise to several suspicions.
Irfan had allegedly taken an obscene video with his girlfriend and when it was publicized had gone to the police station to complain. The police suspected that he is into smuggling through a shop owned by him at the Chor Bazar.
Ilahid of Hemmadi is said to be a prime suspect in a bank robbery at Gangolli.