WB cattle smuggler, others have investments in Dubai and Bangladesh: ED

The ED has recovered documents related to "investments" in Dubai and Bangladesh after it carried out searches at a dozen premises linked to an alleged cattle smuggler operating along the Indo-Bangla border and other places here, the agency said on Tuesday.

The federal probe agency also seized about Rs 13.5 lakh cash after this action that was carried out under the provision of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

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"Searches were conducted on the basis of certain specific inputs that three brothers of the JHM group -- Mohammad Jahangir Alam, Mohammad Humayun Kabir and Mohammad Mehedi Hasanin -- in association with infamous hawala operator Md Enamul Haque and other cash peddlers were involved in suspicious unaccounted cash transactions," the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said in a statement.

It added that these alleged illicit transactions of the accused were with some overseas-based people and relate to the "business of cattle, export of rice and onions", among others.

"Incriminating documents highlighting the modus operandi of hawala were found. Transactions and investments in Dubai and Bangladesh-based companies have also been recovered," the agency said. "The documents reveal that the accused have paid as well as received huge compensatory payments on production of certain currency notes," the agency said without elaborating.

The raids were carried out at 12 locations, including Bentinck Street, Atghara, MG Road, Tagore and Clive Row in the West Bengal capital, and some nearby places. Two premises were found locked, which have been sealed and will be searched later, it said. Haque, the main accused in the case, was arrested in March, 2018 by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with an alleged bribery case involving a BSF Commandant.

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Border Security Force (BSF) officer J D Mathew was posted in Murshidabad district of West Bengal as the commander of its 83rd battalion and was arrested by the CBI with unexplained cash worth over Rs 45 lakh in December, 2017 while de-boarding a train in Kerala. This money is alleged to be the proceeds of crime of cattle smuggling that is rampant along the India-Bangladesh border. Haque is also stated to be operating in Murshidabad. Hawala pertains to the transfer and movement of money by skirting the banking channels and dealings of dirty funds is largely done in cash or through layered remittances.