The Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court on Tuesday remanded K.C. Abdul Nazar, arrested from Kozhikode in connection with a money-laundering case, to judicial custody for 14 days.
Enforcement Directorate (ED) sources said Abdul Nazar, of Kunnamangalam in Kozhikode, was involved in sending over Rs.100 crore to one Uthup through hawala channels. He committed an ‘offence of money laundering’ punishable under section 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Abdul Nazar got into touch with Suresh Babu, a foreign exchange agent, arrested from Kottayam earlier, during October-November 2014. They started arranging foreign currency in Dubai after taking delivery of money from the Kochi office of Al Zarafa Travel and Manpower Consultants. The operations started with Uthup sending Rs.20 lakh with his driver Saran to Suresh Babu’s house in Kottayam. The money was later handed over to Abdul Nazar via his son in law Riyas, who runs the Kochi branch of Malabar Foreign Exchange Private Ltd. About a month later, Srejith and Siju, the two employees of Al Zarafa, began taking their daily collection from the office to Suresh, which was then handed over to Abdul Nazar. He used to distribute the money among hawala agents operating in Koduvally, Kozhikode, and Vengara.
