New Delhi: A large number of Indians working at eateries like kebab shops and pizzerias in Portugal are allegedly being exploited by organised crime networks, including that of Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar, to disguise and launder criminal proceeds through hawala channels. Multiple agencies have flagged this concern to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), ThePrint has learnt.
Interestingly, it was a warehouse used to distribute smuggled cigarettes and bulk quantities of alprazolam allegedly by the Goldy Brar and Rohit Godara network that led investigators to this hawala operation. According to a source in the agency, a caretaker told investigators during a raid that he received large cash payments from local hawala operators on the instructions of a gangster known as ‘Jimmy Portugal’, and distributed the money to specific individuals.
Investigators subsequently traced one of the recipients, who told them that the money had been sent by his brother, who runs pizza and kebab outlets in Portugal.
“When he was questioned, the brother provided details of several Indian workers whose savings were being transferred to their families through an Indian hawala operator in Portugal. He is now being probed,” a source said.
According to sources in the security establishment, investigations into multiple extortion cases have since revealed that gangster networks have tapped into hawala networks abroad used by Indian workers to send part of their savings back home.
A source said the gangsters are exploiting this system by mingling extortion proceeds collected in rupees in India with remittance flows generated by Indian workers abroad, obscuring the money trail and making it difficult for law enforcement agencies to trace the proceeds. The funds are then used to finance criminal activities and contraband.
Explaining the mechanism, a source said, “These hawala operators ordinarily collect the savings of Indian blue-collar workers in the US and Europe and arrange equivalent payments to their families in India. Gangsters have exploited this system. Of the extortion money collected in India, a portion is paid to families of jailed gang members, lawyers and other local associates. The remainder is then merged into the hawala operators’ existing remittance flows and ultimately settled overseas, including in the UAE.”
“Essentially, the network is mixing extortion proceeds collected in India with workers’ savings collected in euros abroad, obscuring the money trail and allowing payments to overseas contraband suppliers to be settled through the UAE,” the source added.
According to a second source, the ED has now been informed about the hawala operators identified during the investigation.
The police is also identifying other foreign-based Indian hawala operators assisting fugitive gangsters, the source quoted above said. Cases under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act have also been registered in this regard.
A source from Maharashtra police said, “This network and its agents are under probe. We are looking into how the money is routed and are also working to identify the facilitators who assist the financial operations of these gangs abroad.”
“It is a complex investigation as all these transactions are routed through multiple entities and involve very large amounts,” the source added.
A source from the ED said that these organised crime syndicates have been using hawala networks to launder proceeds of extortion, and that the agency has been keeping a watch. The source added that no case has been registered by the agency with regard to the hawala network in Portugal yet but the agency is looking into it. “We are keeping a close watch on these networks and the proceeds generated through extortion,” the source said.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)