Indian principal held in alleged ‘hawala’ transfer – Money sent from Kuwait

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KUWAIT CITY, May 23: India’s Assam police have arrested a Muslim cleric and businessman for their alleged involvement in a “hawala” (money order) transaction amounting to about 845,000 Indian rupees which was allegedly sent from Kuwait, reports Al-Rai daily quoting the Business Standard website.

Nurul Islam, the principal of the Jamia Islamia Salafia Arabic College in Barpeta, has been arrested and the money has been confiscated from him, according to Barpeta’s Superintendent of Police (SP) Robin Kumar. “During interrogation Nurul Islam has admitted that the money came from a transfer from Kuwait,” Kumar said.

The website said the Barpeta police have also arrested a businessman Aaron Sarf residing in Guwahati after he admitted to facilitating the so-called ‘hawala (money order) deal’. Kumar noted that Nurul Islam had previously deposited 2,800,000 rupees in the University’s banking account through three separate transactions since December 2018. “The defendant was not able to tell us where the money came from and the nature of its expenditure,” Kumar said.

Barpeta police chief did not rule out that Nurul Islam was spending money on what he called “anti-social activities,” adding that investigations were continuing in this regard.

The hawala system works essentially through an underground network, where a handler in one country or place accepts cash from a customer and then a handler in another country or place hands out the equivalent amount (minus commission) to the receiver.

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