Telangana police bust hawala network linked to drug traffickers

Foreign drug cartels, especially Nigerians, are using illegal hawala channels to move drug money. Telangana Police and EAGLE have arrested 50 operators helping launder crores of rupees. These funds are sent abroad disguised as payments for exported goods

Hyderabad: The fact that ‘hawala transactions’ are turning into a prime channel for transferring drug money, the Elite Action Group for Drug Law Enforcement has started focusing on hawala operators linked to drug cartels in the country.

The agency, during money trails in recent cases, was stunned to find that the majority of the drug cartels had easy access to the hawala operators, and the channels are used to transfer drug money.

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International drug traffickers, mainly the Nigerians and those from other African countries, after collecting drug money from local peddlers and customers, route it to hawala operators. The hawala operators, through their illegal channels, then route the money to Indian businessmen or other agents in foreign countries.

“During the recent investigation, we found the hawala operators transferred the money to local traders in different States. The amount was payment for the merchandise purchased and shipped by the drug cartels to their native places, where they are running different businesses,” said an official of EAGLE.

The drug cartels, according to estimates by the drug law enforcement agencies, have transferred crores of rupees through hawala operators.

The EAGLE arrested several hawala operators in recent weeks for colluding with foreign drug cartels for small commissions. Since the launch of the crackdown on illegal money transfer channels, around 50 hawala operators have been caught by the Telangana police. A few hawala operators are exclusively facilitating the routing of the illegal proceeds of drug trafficking and cyber crimes.

“The hawala operators know well that the money is ‘proceeds of crime’. Merely for the sake of a commission, they are facilitating the international criminals; the crackdown will continue and a detailed money trail is being taken up in drug trafficking cases,” said the official.

The Telangana police are also writing to the Enforcement Directorate about the developments so that a detailed financial investigation is taken up in every case.

“Merely arresting or deporting foreign peddlers is not sufficient – breaking hawala channels, tightening visa and passport checks, and ensuring inter-state coordination are critical to curb this menace,” added the official.

Drug Trafficking

* Since 2010, 353 foreign nationals were apprehended in 323 NDPS Act cases in Telangana.

* Route Cocaine from Latin America to Europe.

* Smuggle synthetic drugs such as Crystal Meth, Ecstasy, Amphetamine, MDMA, and LSD from France, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands into India.

* These consignments are dispatched in parcels to Mumbai and Delhi through reputed international courier services such as DHL and FedEx.

Modus Operandi of Foreign Drug Suppliers:

• Use of multiple passports, fake identities, and fraudulent visas to re-enter India.

• Nigerian peddlers operate from luxurious villas in Goa, supplying drugs to Hyderabad & Goa.

• Africans, especially Nigerians, are misusing the visa system and entering under fake identities and Passports.

• Drug profits are repatriated through hawala channels. This money is used to buy merchandise, which is finally shipped to Lagos.