ED raids 2 money changers in Mumbai, Goa in connection with hawala case

containing information related to hawala transactions, smuggling of foreign currency were recovered and seized during the search operation, the ED said.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said it has raided two money changers in Mumbai and Goa in connection with a hawala probe against them.

In a statement, the agency said office and residential premises of directors of Sete Mares Global Forex Pvt Ltd and Nemichand Khemraj Forex Pvt Ltd were searched under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

The two firms, it said, are full-fledged money changers (FFMCs).

The ED said Rs 44.37 lakh cash and foreign currency worth Rs 9.55 lakh in various denominations were seized during the operation.

''These companies were engaged in the business of foreign currency exchange. These FFMCs deposited huge amounts of cash in bank accounts on a daily basis, remitted it through RTGS/NEFT to other FFMCs and collected foreign currency in cash which aroused suspicion against these companies,'' the agency alleged.

It is suspected that these companies may be involved in trade-based hawala and the foreign currencies collected by them were smuggled out of the country to settle transactions abroad, it said.

Hawala refers to illegal financial transactions done by skirting normal banking routes.

''Incriminating documents, laptops, mobile phones, etc. containing information related to hawala transactions, smuggling of foreign currency were recovered and seized during the search operation,'' the ED said.

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