Nearly a week after arresting a foreign exchange agent from Kottayam, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers probing a money laundering case against Al Zarafa Travel and Manpower Consultants, arrested another person from Kozhikode in this connection on Monday.
Abdul Nazar, proprietor of Malabar Foreign Currency Exchange Private Ltd., was detained following simultaneous raids at five locations in Kochi and Kozhikode, including his office and residence.
Officials said the accused person had helped Uthup Varghese, proprietor of Al Zarafa Travels and Manpower Consultants, send money abroad through hawala channels. He also maintained close links with Suresh Babu, an ally of Uthup, who allegedly sent Rs.88 crore to Uthup through the hawala network.
During the raid, the ED team recovered Indian and foreign currencies worth Rs.1 crore.
They also sealed Nazar’s office located at Bank Road in Kozhikode.
Nazar has been booked under provisions of the Money Laundering Act and will be produced before the Ernakulam principle sessions court on Thursday morning.
In May, a raid at the houses of a document writer at Puthupally and a bakery unit at Manarcaud had yielded crucial evidence on the financial transactions made by M.V. Varghese alias Uthup.
Accused of helping Uthup send money via hawala channels
