Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday arrested an alleged hawala operator for running a money-laundering racket to the tune of over Rs 2,200 crore.
The accused is now being questioned with regard to the multiple firms that he had floated for laundering the huge sum. The apprehended accused was identified as Mohammed Farooq, (39), who has now been booked under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). A preliminary probe revealed that Farooq had floated floated 13 firms, including one that has been identified as Stelkon Infratel Pvt Ltd.
These firms remitted about Rs 2,252 crore funds to overseas destinations during 2015-16. This was done by submitting non-existent and forged import documents to the banks.
The probe has revealed that the actual bills of entry were only for Rs 24.64 crore. TheED officials said its probe found that these 13 firms had fake addresses and dummy persons as
directors that was controlled and operated by Farooq. “Farooq was allegedly operating about 135 bank accounts in various banking institutions in Mumbai to send the funds abroad through hawala. We are now questioning him,” said an ED officer.
A case under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act has been registered against Farooq.
