THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:The Thampanoor police on Sunday busted a suspected ‘hawala’ network with the arrest of two persons. The police seized around Rs 10.20 lakh of unaccounted money from Narayanan, 49, a native of Kottakkal, Malappuram.
The team led by Thampanoor SI S P Prakash also took a person from Thiruvananthapuram into custody for whom the accused arrived here to hand over Rs 1.5 lakh. The alleged recipient has been identified as Venu, 52 of Valiyashala.
According to police, Narayanan was nabbed from the dingy road near the Thampanoor mosque by the patrolling team where he was found moving around under suspicious circumstances. When some of the officials walked near the accused, he tried to flee. However, he was chased down and found the currency notes to the tune of over Rs 10 lakh kept in the waist bag.
During interrogation, he admitted to the crime and said he arrived there to hand over the cash to a person in the city. Though he had revealed the details of one person, we suspect that more people were involved in this deal.
The accused also revealed that he had handed over the ‘hawala’ money many times before in the city and other districts such as Ernakulam, Kollam and Palakkad.
Venu was taken into custody by purportedly making a phone call by the police to receive the cash. It is learnt that he was just a carrier of an anonymous Malappuram resident for handling and transacting the unaccounted money.
“We began the investigation and will nab all the remaining persons involved in the racket. Primarily, we have to probe the source of the cash flow. Both the accused were unaware of the source. However, we can’t divulge more details now as it adversely affects the investigation,” said Prakash, Thampanoor SI.
Both the accused were later produced before the magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.
The police also added that they would seek the magistrate for taking them into the custody for further interrogation in the coming days.
46-yr-old Held for Rubber Sheet Theft
The police have recorded the arrest of a 46-year-old man on charges of stealing rubber sheets from a truck after assaulting the driver and cleaner of the vehicle at Venjaramood here on Saturday.
The accused has been identified as Vijayan, a native of Palakkad. The police said the accused took the truck and fled the scene.
The incident occurred on Novenmber 17, 2013, when the accused chased down the truck carrying the rubber sheets from Anchal in Kollam district in an Innova car. Apparently, the accused waylaid the truck at Alanthara Junction at Venjaramood.
The accused then assaulted the driver and the cleaner, took the truck and sold the rubber sheets at Madurai for Rs 4,93,000.
The accused went absconding after the incident. However, he landed in the police custody on Friday, said Venjaramood SI.
The accused has been produced before the magistrate and remanded in the judicial custody.
The police seized around Rs 10.20 lakh of unaccounted money from Narayanan, 49, a native of Kottakkal, Malappuram. The accused also revealed that he had handed over ‘hawala’ money in Ernakulam, Kollam and Palakkad