Hawala case

Hawala case
BHAVNA VIJ

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 10: Raising hopes that the Jain hawala case may be revived, the CBI on Friday arrested Mohammad Amir Deen Habib better known as Amir Bhai reportedly the main conduit for all the Rs 65-crore hawala transactions.

He was also wanted by the Enforcement Directorate and Mumbai police for large-scale money laundering operations and possible links with drug traffickers and diamond smugglers. Amir Bhai had been evading arrest for the past five years, shuttling between Dubai, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Singapore. According to S K Jain, the main accused in the hawala case, Amir Bhai was also a confidant of Ottavio Quattrocchi.

Amir Bhai was detained by the immigration authorities when he landed at the IGI Airport from Dubai. They had, in their computers, an Interpol LOC (Look Out Card) issued against him and also an international red corner alert. They also had his personal details and identification marks. The 52-year-old hawala operator was travelling alone. ``He was travelling on a passportissued by Indian Consulate in Hong Kong in 1993,'' an official said.

Since the immigration authorities do not have the power to arrest, they handed over Amir Bhai to the IGI police station which informed the Interpol representative in CBI. Officials of the IB and CBI interrogated him before the CBI took him into custody. He was later remanded to judicial custody till Monday.

From Killalakarai in Tamil Nadu, Amir Bhai was the missing link in the hawala scandal involving names of over 100 politicians and bureaucrats.