KOCHI:Having arrested an Afghanistan national attempting to smuggle out foreign currency from the Cochin International Airport in Nedumbassery, the Customs Department has approached the External Affairs Ministry to take the investigation abroad.The department has received information about a hawala cartel in New Delhi suspected to be behind the source of foreign currencies.
Mohammad Siddiqui Yusafi, a garment merchant from Afghanistan was arrested by the Customs with `10.86 crore before he could board a flight to Dubai on Wednesday. Siddiqui arrived in Nedumbassery from New Delhi when the scheduled flight to Dubai faced technical difficulties.“We have written to the External Affairs Ministry for details about the Visa provided to the arrested person,” an officer said.
“We have to receive information about persons having links with cartels operating from abroad. We also need information about the arrested Afghan national through the Afghanistan Embassy.”Customs Commissioner Sumit Kumar said the assistance of the Delhi Police and the Customs Preventive Unit, New Delhi, has been sought.
“The assistance of the Delhi Police has been sought to trace the people who provided the foreign currencies to the Afghan national. Other central agencies are also assisting us to trace out the hawala cartel. We have received some evidence and we are in the process of verifying it,” he said.
Sumit Kumar said further arrests will be made only on the basis of evidence that emerge during the probe.
The Customs Department - which made another seizure of `1.30 crore worth of foreign currency from a Mala native - has received information about the persons who sourced foreign currency. “We have managed to trace some people linked to the foreign currency carried by the Mala native. But we will make further arrests on the basis of the evidence we receive,” an officer said.