It was a joint operation by Income Tax Dept & Crime Branch. On further interrogation, it was found that money belongs to Bombay based hawala operators. The IT Department has initiated a probe and is conducting further enquiry. The police has arrested 5 people in the case.
The five men are carriers and have been identified as Ansari Abuzar, Fazal Khan, Ansari Affan, Ladu Ram and Mahaveer Singh, he said. The recovered amount was kept in different suitcases and
cardboard box. It was found during interrogation that the money belongs to some Mumbai-based hawala operators, said the officer.
"They had hired packaging specialists who pack these notes in such a manner that they are even undetectable by airport scanning machines. Experts in packaging are using some tapes and wires which pass through X-ray," he said. The Income Tax department has seized the cash and is analysing the mobile phone details of these people since their phones contain details of lot of other hawala operators, he added.
This comes after shocking case of money seizure from Maharashtra’s Thane came to light. Police seized more than Rs 1 crore in the new currency notes and detained three persons in Thane on Tuesday evening.
Senior police inspector Nitin Thackeray who led the team which seized the notes from near Thane Civil Hospital said that three men, Chintan Rambhia, Govrav Pichar and Harish Raut, were detained.
Also, on the same day, two persons were held in neighbouring Navi Mumbai with Rs 23.70 lakh, while three persons were held in Ulhasnagar in Thane district after Rs 9.76 lakh in Rs 2,000 denomination were seized from them.
These huge sums of money seizure cases have become an everyday affair ever since demonetisation was announced. The Income tax department authorities have been on their toes and working day and night to nab these culprits.