Search op on to nab terrorist
Jammu, Sep 5: Security forces on Tuesday extended the search operation to adjoining villages to track down a terrorist who managed to escape from a remote village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district, officials said. While one terrorist was killed and two security personnel injured in the initial gunfight at Gali Sohab village in Tuli area on Monday, the second terrorist slipped out from the cordoned house located on a slope, taking advantage of rough terrain, the officials said. They said the security forces stormed the house early this morning amid intense firing but there was no trace of the second terrorist who was believed hiding inside. However, the search parties comprising police, Army and CRPF retrieved the body of the slain terrorist and also recovered an AK assault rifle, two magazines, a rucksack, a pocket diary and some medicines and eatables. The officials said reinforcements were rushed to the area and nearly half-a-dozen adjoining villages in the forested area were sealed and a search operation is underway. . (PTI)
Int’l hawala racket busted
New Delhi, Sep 5: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday detained five persons under the provisions of the COFEPOSA Act for running an international hawala racket of more than Rs 300 crore, The detained persons have been identified as V.S. Suresh Babu, A.K. Shaji alias Payasam Shaji, Mohammed Shibu, Mohammed Shiju, and Siraj V. Essakhan, all residents of Kerala. The ED case is based on the investigation establishing that these persons were involved in high-volume international hawala operations for the past many years in contravention of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), running into more than Rs 300 crore. The ED had on June 19 conducted raids at 14 locations in Kerala as part of its investigation into hawala operators in in the state. The raids were conducted against entities who were allegedly undertaking hawala transactions in the guise of forex exchange, gifts shops, jewellery shops and readymade garment shops, etc. During the searches, assorted foreign currencies from more than 15 countries and Rs 4 crore in Indian currency were seized. It was established that the suspects were indulging in illegal forex dealings without KYC or issuing bills. (IANS)