An alleged hawala dealer suspected of having links with the Dawood Ibrahim, the Taliban and al Qaeda has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate.
An alleged hawala dealer suspected of having links with the terror ring of Dawood Ibrahim, the Taliban and al Qaeda has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Sources say Naresh Jain, 50, considered one of the world’s biggest drug money dealers with a daily turnover of $4 million, may have links with some top bureaucrats, politicians and business houses in the country.
“Investigations are [still] at a preliminary stage,” a senior finance ministry official told DNA.
Jain, who has been on the run since he jumped bail in a case in Dubai in 2007, was arrested on Thursday from his residence in west Delhi’s Pitampura colony.
The ED had been tracking his movements for more than a year.
Jain reportedly owns 12 properties — commercial and residential — in Delhi alone.
ED officials found Rs60 lakh at his residence, besides documents about benami properties and bank lockers. Several of these documents pertain to his investments in stock markets, airlines and real estate. The ED has booked him under the Foreign
Exchange Management Act and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Brush with law
Jain narrowly escaped a couple of years ago when an ED team raided his premises, probably in Delhi. He attacked the sleuths and fled, it is learnt.
Jain was arrested by the Dubai police in 2007 after a global investigation called Operation Khyber Pass into drug trails from Italy and elsewhere led to him. Investigators from Italy, US and Britain stumbled upon Jain, known in the trade circles as “Patel”. But he jumped bail and started operating from Delhi, and Indian agencies have since been on the look-out for him.
About a year ago, ED formed a special anti-money laundering unit to track him down. His two brothers are also said to be involved in the hawala business, sources said.
$4 million daily turnover
Global investigations, led by the US Homeland Security, had revealed that drug money from around the world was flowing into Jain’s network, with a daily turnover of about $4 million. This money was further distributed to drug kingpins, including the underworld and terrorists, the earlier investigations had revealed.
According to Indian officials, Jain could be involved in hawala operations worth Rs5,000 crore.
Terror links
An Indian official told DNA that Jain has links with the Taliban’s drug cartel, and has been a key player in bartering proceeds from Afghanistan drug trade through hawala.
About four years ago, Jain is suspected to have made a major hawala transaction running into crores of rupees to key Dawood henchmen in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a matter which is being probed by the ED.
The global network
Preliminary probe has found that Jain had established bases in several countries including the UAE, Nigeria, the United Kingdom, the US, Italy, Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, Bolivia and Congo. He is said to be close to leading business houses in Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and other prominent Indian cities.
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