Money laundering gang busted, nearly 95 tonnes of gold seized

[email protected] (Khaleej Times)
December 27, 2011

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Abu Dhabi, December 27: Security agencies on Sunday announced that they had busted one of the world’s largest money laundering networks which was involved in the smuggling of around 95,000kg of gold and SR10 million (over Dh9 million) in cash.

The operation was led by State Security with help from law enforcement and investigating agencies against the international gang of criminals who planned to use the UAE banking system to launder the black money and gold.

The gang planned to smuggle 94,410kg of pure gold from an African country and SR10 million in cash into the UAE through the Ghuwaifat check post on the Saudi border. “The gang of criminal was planning to channel the gold into the banking system and then transfer them to a number of Arab and other foreign countries, but the full-proof inspection measures adopted by the Ministry of Interior at land and air ports had aborted the smuggling attempt and apprehended members of the network,” the official Emirates News Agency (Wam) reported.

However, the nationalities and full names of the apprehended gang members were not disclosed as the investigation is ongoing.

The ring planned to smuggle the gold and money through oil tankers from an African country to a neighbouring country where three members, identified as A.M.A, H.B. and A.A, carried the consignment for delivery to another group of the gang who were identified as owners of the tankers for further transportation to the UAE.

The tanker owners were tasked to smuggle the gold and cash into the UAE and hand them over to their accomplices here.

The entire plan was aborted when undercover agents of the State Security and police waited for the consignment to arrive at the Ghuwaifat border post, and a key gang member was arrested red-handed. This led to the arrest of other accomplices. The culprit was arrested in possession of SR10 million hidden in the oil tanker. Further investigation and follow-up helped in rounding up the entire network.

Money laundering has been a pressing issue for the international community, particularly the UAE due to its fast economic development and growth. Money launderers have been using different methods, including Hawala, to launder black money through operators based here and front countries in different parts of Asia.

To curb the misuse of Hawala transaction of money, the Central Bank has already started registering all Hawala operations. The Central Bank has asked all such money transaction operators to declare their transactions and operate through legal channels.

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News Network
June 11,2020

Thrissur, Jun 11: Volunteers of People for Animal Welfare Services rescued a dog that had its mouth sealed with insulation tape around it for two weeks in Ollur of Thrissur district.

The dog has now been shifted to an animal shelter home.

Recently two elephants died in Kerala. One pregnant elephant died after consuming crackers wrapped in some fruits in Palakkad.

Another elephant died in Malappuram after it was found seriously injured in North Nilambur forest range of the district.

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Agencies
July 17,2020

New Delhi, Jul 17: The first FIR against Volkswagen and Audi in India for installing cheat devices in their cars to misrepresent emissions has been filed in Noida.

The FIR was filed by Noida resident Aniljit Singh against the top officials of Volkswagen and Audi in India and their headquarters in Germany. These include Rahil Ansari, Brand Director, Audi India, Balbir Singh Dhillon, Head, Audi India, and Bram Schot, Chairman, Audi AG.

The FIR reviewed by media agency cites forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.

The complaint has cited the global emissions scandal where VW was found to be installing a cheat device in its cars, in the absence of which, the cars produced 10-40 times emissions beyond the permissible limits.

The complainant said that in 2018 he had purchased seven Audi cars worth crores of rupees. At the time of taking the delivery, the complainant said that he inquired if the cheat devices were installed in India and he was told by the company that they were not, as in India's emission norms were not as stringent and the country being a growing market for Audi, no such device was implanted.

The complaint said that the authorities in India observed that Audi cars' emissions for nitrogen oxide were 5-8 times the permissible limits and after the National Green Tribunal imposed a penalty of Rs 500 crore on VW, the complainant realised that he had been duped of his hard earned money.

He alleged that the accused persons had misrepresented the complainant by forging the documents and devices and caused wrongful gains to themselves and wrongful losses to the complainant. These officials had made wrong records to capture the market, with malafide intent and under a pre-planned conspiracy had induced and defrauded the complainant.

The accused persons are guilty of cheating the customers and have induced the complainant to part with hard earned money for sub-standard cars. The accused are also guilty of forging the documents on which they had sought various clearances.

The complainant has demanded that the allegations may be thoroughly investigated by a senior official.

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News Network
May 11,2020

May 11: Two youths allegedly gang-raped a teen and then hacked to death her 11-year old brother, who had seen their act, in a bid to hide their crime, at a village in Uttar Pradesh's Etah district, about 300 kilometres from here.

Police sources said that two youths, resident of the same village, barged into the house of the teen, when she was alone, and allegedly gang-raped her.

The victim's minor brother suddenly came into the house and protested after he witnessed his sister being sexually assaulted, sources said. The youths allegedly strangled the minor with a towel.

The alleged culprits, who hailed from influential families, 'forced' the victim's parents to bury their son and warned them against approaching the cops.

The parents, however, gathered courage and met senior police officials in Etah on Sunday after a case was registered in this regard. Police said that the body of the minor would be exhumed and a postmortem examination would be conducted.

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