Youth in net for hawala link

Dhanbad, Nov. 11: A team of Bihar police swooped on Dhanbad yesterday and arrested a local youth for his alleged involvement in hawala transactions with suspected anti-national elements from Pakistan.

Following the trail of illegal money transactions, the Bihar team, led by ASIs Rahul Ranjan and Shafiqul Haque, raided different places in Jharia and Kendua and nabbed one Raju Sao. Dhanbad police assisted their Bihar counterparts in the drive.

More than 20 Debit cards of different banks, several mobile phone handsets and bank account passbooks were recovered from Raju’s house at Ena Islampur in Jharia.

While the Bihar team took away Raju with them to Lakhisarai for questioning last night itself, the local police continued raids in different parts of the district today.

Dhanbad SP Anoop T. Matthew confirmed the search operation. “Raids are being conducted on the basis of information given by the Bihar police in connection with hawala transactions,” Matthew said, refusing to divulge any details.

In the aftermath of the Patna serial blasts, the Bihar police arrested four youths for their suspected link with terror activities from Lakhisarai on November 9.

During interrogations, one of the youths, Gopal Goyal, revealed the name of Raju, a contract worker with an outsourcing agency at BCCL’s Kusunda colliery in Dhanbad.

The police also raided the houses of two other suspects — Pappu Sao and Bittu Sao — in Ena Islampur locality, but failed to nab them.

Police said Goyal and Co. used to take ATM cards, bank passbooks and chequebooks of poor people by paying them money. Funds remitted from Pakistan were transacted through these bank accounts to aid terror outfits here.

Raju was one of the local links of this network that facilitated funds transactions.

According to local villagers, Goyal visited Pappu, who used to work as a contract labourer at Kusunda colliery till a year ago, on several occasions. Pappu used to call him his maternal uncle.