The Hindu : Kerala News : Business as usual in `hawala market'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 06, 2005

Kerala

Kerala

Business as usual in `hawala market'

By Our Staff Reporter

MALAPPURAM, MARCH 5. Many people involved in hawala transactions in the district have gone underground following the seizure of Rs. 1 crore from two persons in Chennai on Friday. But the business was as usual today in the `hawala market.'

The police said that they were monitoring the situation and investigating various aspects of hawala transactions. However, the onus of pinning down this illegal money transaction lies with the Enforcement Department, the police officials said.

The powers of the police were limited especially after the introduction of the Foreign Exchange Maintenance Act (FEMA), they said.

Although illegal transactions — widely called hawala, pipe or tube money — for huge amounts take place everyday centring the district, the police are a relieved lot. Investigations by the special branch and other secret wings of the police, customs and revenue intelligence had proved that the hawala money that flowed into the district from the Gulf was not meant or used for illegal or subversive activities.

The police sources said that much of the money that reached the State through various hawala networks would go to ordinary families. Those involved in the hawala transactions too agreed with this view.

``Many people working in the Gulf countries opt for the `pipe' for obvious reasons of convenience and speedy transactions. No bank can beat us in delivering the money in no time, and that too at the receiver's doorstep,'' said Mohammed, a middle-level hawala agent, on condition of not mentioning his full name.

``I told some of my boys to go home today. But I managed the business without any hassle,'' he said. He admitted that like others, he too had stepped up vigil following the reports of the Chennai seizure.

However, he refused to comment on the Chennai seizure.

Although hawala transactions are centred on the towns of Vengara, Perinthalmanna, Manjeri and Tirur, the network extends across the State. The agents are capable of delivering the cash, often in pinned-up bundles, anywhere in the State.

``Our men tread where the courier services do not reach,'' said a Gulf returnee who now acts as the local kingpin of an underdeveloped area.

For many agents at the lowest level, it is like newspaper distribution. Almost everyday they do it.

Some students too are engaged in this activity. Whether they are aware of its seriousness or not, studies are only a part-time `business' for them.

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