Police bust hawala syndicate

The city police have busted a hawala system and seized Rs 1.75 crore found in the possession of rowdy sheeter Abdul Mannan (29) from K B Road, Talapady and his associate Raji (26) from Padil.

Police suspect that more than Rs 2.35 crore was used in Hawala transactions and they are on the lookout for four more men. The two youths, arrested on the charge of kidnapping (section 364 (a)) and robbery (section 392 of IPC), were remanded to police custody by a city court on Monday.

City Police Commissioner T R Suresh said Manjunath Ganapathy Palamnakara had filed a robbery case in Urva police station claiming that four men had kidnapped him from Ladyhill Circle on October 23 while he was alighting from a bus after returning to Mangaluru from Mumbai.

He was taken to Bajpe in an Innova car and the men had seized Rs 15 lakh and two cell phones in his possession. “Though the victim had filed a complaint three days after the robbery, a special team, led by CCB Inspector Shantaram and Urva Police station Inspector Ravish S Nayak, was formed. The team succeeded in nabbing Abdul, a notorious rowdy sheeter who had eight cases including two murder cases registered against him. The police officers recovered Rs 1.75 crore (nearly Rs 1.45 crore was in Rs 2000 denominations) from Abdul.”

Four others were involved and they left to other places after collecting their shares, Abdul has told police officers during interrogation.