Acting on a tip-off, Police officials captured smugglers at Gollapudi near Vijayawada while taking currency from Narasapuram to Hyderabad. The huge sum was stored in a specially designed box kept under the back seat of the car. Police detained three members of the gang.
What is this Hawala?
People who work abroad get handsome pays. They have to convert it into Rupees in banks. Buying rate of a Dollar is now at Rs.76 while selling price stands at Rs.73. One has to pay remittance tax too if he wants to convert the foreign currency into Indian Rupees. So people working abroad are approaching gangs like these to convert their money at minimal costs. Even though this unlawful procedure is taking place from decades, police department is unable to catch and hand them over to income tax officials due to the political masters behind the gangs.
Lack of coordination between police department and income tax officials is also becoming a boon for these Hawala operators. Police are able to intercept only a few out of thousands of vehicles that run on highways near check posts. If they find currency with no proper documents, they will hand it over to the income tax department. Police department generally do not get any information from IT officials and have to depend on tips given by their own sources. White collar criminals create suitcase companies and generate fake bills for transferring the currency. These kinds of Hawala crimes can be stopped only if Police and IT departments coordinate with each other and work in collaboration.
