A woman flight attendant of Jet Airways who was part of well-entrenched international gang of hawala dealers, has been arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) for allegedly trying to smuggle out $4,80,200 out of the country, according to an official statement issued on Tuesday. The accused was intercepted by DRI officials when she was on a flight to Hong Kong on Monday, it said.
DRI sleuths had information about the woman flight attendant’s activities. Officials found $4,80,200 (approximately Rs 3.21 crore) wrapped in foil in her possession. On further investigation, it was found that she was working with an agent, named Amit Malhotra, a resident of Vivek Vihar area in East Delhi, a senior DRI official said.
The agency said the air hostess had carried foreign currency several times in the past at the behest of Malhotra, who is a hawala dealer.
Malhotra has adopted a modus operandi of using crew members for smuggling of foreign exchange. “Malhotra would collect money from some bullion dealers in Delhi and send it via some air hostess to select foreign destinations. The money was being used for purchasing gold abroad. The gold would then be sent to India illegally,” the official said.
Malhotra had befriended the Jet Airways crew six months ago during a flight to India, he said. The DRI suspected the role of some other crew members of Jet Airways in smuggling out forex, the official said.
“Malhotra has been illegally smuggling forex for the past over one year. There are some other crew members involved in the case. We are also trying to find out the details of bullion dealers involved in this syndicate,” he said. Both Malhotra and the Jet Airways crew member have been arrested, the official said.
later A Delhi court sent the accused flight attendant to two days judicial custody.
Duty Magistrate Ritu Singh sent to jail air hostess and agent Amit Malhotra, identified as an alleged hawala operator by the DRI, with a direction that they be produced on January 11 before the concerned metropolitan magistrate.
During the hearing, the DRI had sought two-week judicial custody for the arrested duo.