Two held as Customs department busts foreign currency hawala racket in Pune

Pune: The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the Pune Customs Department has uncovered a hawala racket involving US currency, valued at approximately Rs 3.47 crore, and apprehended two persons, an official said on Tuesday.

The accused have been identified as Khushbu Agarwal (41), a travel agent, and Mumbai-based Mohd Aamir who had supplied this foreign currency, a Customs Department release stated.

Authorities have seized foreign currency of different countries from a forex firm in Mumbai.

The action followed specific information on a huge quantity of foreign currency concealed between the pages of notebooks and placed inside two trolley bags smuggled out of India by a person using unsuspecting three passengers, arriving from Dubai to Pune by a Spice Jet flight on February 17.

The AIU officers conducted personal and baggage searches of the passengers and recovered $4,00,100 equivalent to approximately Rs 3.47 crore from the bags, as per the release.

The questioning of the passengers revealed they were students while the bags belonged to Pune-based travel agent Khushbu Agarwal.

"Agarwal had given the travel package to these three students for their Dubai Trip. At the last minute before departure from Pune, she handed over two bags to students on the pretext that they contained her office documents urgently required at her Dubai office. The students accepted these bags and departed from Pune," the release said.

AIU officers at Pune Airport detained Agarwal and recorded her statements under the Customs Act.

After she accepted the ownership of the said foreign currency and based on further questioning, a search team rushed to a Forex firm in Mumbai and apprehended Mohd Aamir who had supplied this foreign currency, the Customs Department said.

During the search of the said firm, foreign currencies of various countries were also found on the premises.

AIU and Customs officers conducted searches at 10 places in Pune, Ahmedabad, and Mumbai.

The two accused were sent to judicial custody.