Patna, March 10: The recent police raids on cyber cafés across the state capital were carried out not to flush out youths indulging in “immoral activities” but to prevent hawala trading, said cops today.

A source said cities in eastern India — especially Patna and Calcutta — are fast becoming hawala capitals of the country. Trading in black money is being carried out through banks in South East Asia rather than Europe. The stringent security measures across the country have forced criminals to operate from the eastern region, thanks to the porous border.

“Earlier places like Kochi, Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi were the main centres for hawala trade. The focus has now shifted to Calcutta and Patna. Both are close to international borders and have airports. Black money is being stored in South East Asian Banks,” Patna City superintendent of police (SP) Shivdeep Lande told The Telegraph.

Using unlicensed Internet to make ransom calls was another concern, said the SP.

“Around two and a half months ago, two youths were arrested for the kidnap and murder of a teenager. The criminals had used unlicensed Internet phones to make ransom calls. Such criminal activities can easily be perpetrated from cyber cafés. It is our job to prevent such activities,” said Lande.

Terrorism is another concern on the radar of the cops.

“Terror emails that were circulated before the recent attacks were sent from cyber cafés. These were tracked to Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. Now these activities are being carried out from Calcutta and Patna,” said the senior officer.

A source said the police have intelligence reports about a fake currency trade going on across the international borders with Nepal and Bangladesh.

“Earlier this racket was operated from Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, which also has an ISI — Pakistani intelligence — base. But now the security in Dhaka has been beefed up. Nepal and Bihar have a porous border. We have information about the trade in fake currency that is now carried out from Nepal,” said a police officer.

Cops said there are around 450 cyber cafés in Patna at present. If they were not regulated, criminals could easily use them as their base. The checks and regulations are being introduced to curb criminal activities,” said another police officer.

Police had earlier said cyber cafés could be asked to install “Clinck”, a software developed by a Mumbai-based security company, which would help in implementing the security measures.