Hawala couriers’ bid to swindle Rs 60 lakh foiled, four nabbed

The arrested persons have been identified as Ansar Raja of Tiruchy, his wife Aarthika of Tirumullaivoyal, Shahul Hamid of Tiruchy and Mohammed Nafiz of Triplicane. 

In the wee hours of Sunday, the Peerkankaranai police received a message from a private hospital in Tambaram that a man has been admitted with injuries in his hand after he was attacked by unidentified men. Police officers went to the spot and identified the alleged victim as Ansar Raja. He claimed that four men attacked him with knife and robbed him of Rs 60 lakh when he was waiting at Perungalathur bus stand to board a bus to Tiruchy, on Saturday night.

However, growing suspicious about his account, police grilled him further, during which they found out that he belonged to a hawala gang, which tried to swindle about Rs 60 lakh that was given to them to smuggle out of country via Tiruchy airport. He faked the attack as part of the plan to swindle the money, Ansar Raja admitted to the police. 

Based on his confession, the police raided a house in Tirumullaivoyal and seized Rs 53 lakh from there. They also arrested Aarthika, Ansar Raja’s wife. Shahul Hamid and Mohammed Nafiz, part of the hawala gang, were also subsequently nabbed. 

While all four were remanded in judicial custody, further inquiry is underway to find out who gave the money to them and where was it being ferried to. “They were promised 10 per cent of the cash if the smuggling was successful. But they wanted to swindle the entire sum, and ended up in prison,” said a police officer.