Investigation agencies are on their toes after Lakhisarai police nabbed four youths on November 9 for their alleged involvement in hawala transactions with Pakistan.

Officials concerned believe there could be a conspiracy behind the illegal money transactions. They are assuming that a network of the Indian Mujahideen and other Pakistan-based terror outfits could be behind the money transactions.

Lakhisarai superintendent of police Rajiv Mishra on Sunday told The Telegraph over the phone from Lakhisarai that a National Investigation Agency (NIA) tip-off helped them arrest the youths near a bank ATM in Lakhisarai.

The police recovered 21 ATM cards, along with 25 passbooks of different banks from their possession. “Since all the ATM cards and passbooks belonged to different people, we arrested them and produced them in court,” he said.

Those arrested are Gopal Kumar Goyal, the son of Chabinath Shaw of Puranibazar under the jurisdiction of Lakhisarai police station, Pawan Kumar, the son of Parmanand Gupta, Vikash Kumar, the son of Binay Kumar Shaw under the jurisdiction of Surajgara police station and Ganesh Kumar, the son of Late L.N. Shaw of Surajgara market area in Lakhisarai. All the youths, in the age group of 21-27, are unemployed.

Sources said the youths during interrogation admitted that funds remitted from Pakistan were being transacted through various bank accounts.

Deputy superintendent of police Subodh Kumar Biswas said their interrogation revealed that they used to take ATM cards, bank passbooks and cheque books of poor people by paying them Rs 2,000.

Money used to be transferred into these accounts from abroad. The amounts were withdrawn and deposited in designated accounts on SMS instructions from mobile numbers with Pakistan code.

The youths said they used to earn 10 per cent of every transaction, a police officer said.