AHMEDABAD: A local court here on Tuesday remanded three persons arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence in connection with a hawala racket estimated to be around Rs 675 crore.
Rakesh Rampuria, Sagar Shah and Vikas Chopra were allegedly operating a money laundering racket between Surat and Hong Kong in the guise of importing and exporting synthetic diamonds through Surat Special Economic Zone.
In a detailed application filed in the court, the DRI claimed the accused were in touch with some unknown persons in Hong Kong and that they were acting on the instructions received in a WhatsApp group.
Since the inception of their unit in the SEZ, the accused had imported synthetic diamonds — Moissanite — in the guise of natural cut-and-polished diamonds worth Rs 1,016 crore and they made outward remittances to the tune of Rs 675 crore, the DRI told the court.
Rampuria and Shah — who were controlling Karolina Trading at Surat SEZ — and Vikash Chopra were arrested by DRI officials from the exit gate of the SEZ.
The officials recovered Rs 1.34 crore worth cut and polished diamonds that were being transported outside the SEZ illegally.
Officials alleged the trio’s Hong Kong associate sent them low-quality diamonds which the local men then converted into jewellery, which the trio then exported at high prices.
The modus operandi was to show low-quality diamonds as high-priced ones, and transfer hawala amounts under this cover, officials said.