Terror funding?
Four trucks loaded with 150 bags of cash and  jewellery, worth Rs 2,500 crore were impounded
NIA has rounded up 47 angadias who were to deliver the consignment to Ahmedabad
The agency wants to find out if the alleged hawala operation involved terror funding
Statesman News Service
Mumbai, 2 July
The National Investigation Agency and the vigilance wing of Mumbai’s Income Tax late on Monday night impounded four trucks loaded with 150 bags stashed with unaccounted cash, jewellery, gold and diamonds roughly estimated at Rs 2,500 crore.
The seizure was made minutes before the consignment was to be taken
to Ahmedabad by more than 40 "angadias" or personal couriers by the Mumbai Central-Ahmedabad Gujarat Mail.
NIA said they have rounded up 47 "angadias" who were expected to ferry the undeclared wealth to their yet to be identified receivers in the Capital of Gujarat and other cities.
The "angadias" are being questioned in batches to unravel the trail of cash from senders to final users.
Counting of seized cash was on at I-T department’s Scindia House office at Ballard Pier in south Mumbai. The building has been cordoned off by Mumbai police.
The NIA received a tip off about physical transfer of unaccounted wealth from the diamond markets and bullion bazaar last week.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the four trucks were escorted to Mumbai Central station by a senior officer of the Vithal Bhai Road Police Station. The Mumbai Central-Ahmedabad Gujarat Mail is the angadias’ favourite, since it cover the distance overnight in both directions. NIA sources said they had to involve the Income Tax (Vigilance) in the operation since the Central investigating agency does not have mandate to impound cash or other unaccounted wealth.
"The prime concern of the agency is to find out whether the alleged hawala operation involved terror funding,” said a source.
The IT director general (Vigilance) Mr Swantantra Kumar confirmed the consignment was headed to Ahmedabad. He said it would take a day or two to count the cash and other valuables.
Sources in Zaveri Bazaar and Opera House diamond hub, however, discounted suspicion about terror funding. They say such hawala transfers of cash and valuables are done routinely by the "trusted tribe of angadias". A diamond dealer who spoke on condition of anonymity said most of the transfers between Mumbai and Gujarat are done through "Jayanti Amba".
He is believed to have monopolised the alleged hawala transfer of cash and unaccounted wealth in other forms. Most of the business deals on daily basis in these markets are finalised through hawala transactions.