Indian Crime Lords Provided 'Hawala Money' to Sinaloa Cartel

“MX” for Borderland Beat

NEW YORK/NEW DELHI – Controversial Bollywood actress Mamata Kulkarni’s husband Vicky Goswami, extradited by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, leaves a trail of several drug traffickers from the Indian sub-continent which are presently wanted by Washington.

While Goswami is jailed in New York, three Indians, reportedly operating from British Columbia in Canada, figure on the list of the DEA’s most-wanted fugitives. Top DEA sleuths are reportedly hunting for Bakshish Singh, a key money launderer linked with the dreaded Sinaloa Cartel of Mexico.

As per DEA reports, Bakshish was earlier working for international hawala ring leader Gurkaran Singh, a Canadian national of Indian origin. Gurkaran was arrested by the DEA a few years ago in Los Angeles, Calif., on charges of providing millions of dollars to the Sinaloa Cartel. Sources in Indian agencies revealed that Bakshish Singh and his two aides, Balwant Rai Bhola and Sanjeev Bhola, could be hiding in Canada or Punjab.

The DEA’s wanted list also names Balwant and Sanjeev Bhola as members of the international hawala ring allegedly working at the behest of Mexican drug cartels. Along with Bakshish, both Sanjeev and Balwant are charged for “conspiracy to launder money.”

According to a DEA report, Bakshish Singh’s last known address was located in Surrey, a city in British Columbia. Several Indian-origin drug traffickers have been earlier operating from Surrey, which is a part of the metro Vancouver area and touches the U.S. border. Sources said that Bakshish might have escaped to India and could be living under fake identity.

Bakshish, born in the ‘70s, was not the only one from India to facilitate funds for the Sinaloa Cartel. In 2018, two Indians, Manu Gupta and Mohammed Sadik, were arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) from Indore for supplying drugs to one Jorge Solis, member of the Sinaloa Cartel.

The DRI had recovered 10 kg of drugs from the possession of Solis and Gupta which were priced over Rs. 100 crore in the international market. Gupta was later found to be working for the Sinaloa Cartel for the past several years.

Sinaloa is a sovereign state in western Mexico. The strategic location of Sinaloa and political patronization gives the drug cartel a safe haven to operate their international drug racket from this state.

The DEA earlier unearthed another big-time drug cartel involving Vicky Goswami, a former aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, head of the infamous Southeast Asian criminal group, the D-Comapny (“D” for Dawood).

The DEA had also tipped Indian agencies about a pharmaceutical company allegedly operating from India, where drugs like mandrax and ephedrine were being manufactured. The pharma company having linkages with alleged drug traffickers was later sealed by the police.

The investigation report filed by the DEA in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York on July 25, 2019, had revealed the name of D-company aide Goswami and Ali Punjani, former husband of another Bollywood star Kim Sharma. Goswami was extradited by the DEA from Kenya to face trial in New York.

What is ‘Hawala Money’?

Hawala is an informal method of transferring money without any physical money actually moving. It is described as a “money transfer without money movement.” Another definition is simply “trust.”

Hawala is used today as an alternative remittance channel that exists outside of traditional banking systems. Transactions between hawala brokers are made without promissory notes because the system is heavily based on trust and the balancing of hawala brokers’ books.

Hawala originated in South Asia during the 8th century and is used throughout the world today, particularly in the Islamic community, as an alternative means of conducting funds transfers. Unlike the conventional method of transferring money across borders through bank wire transfers, money transfer in hawala is arranged through a network of hawaladars or hawala dealers.

Hawala dealers keep an informal journal to record all credit and debit transactions on their accounts. Debt between hawala dealers can be settled in cash, property, or services. A hawaladar who does not keep their end of the deal in the implied contractual system of hawala will be tagged as one who has lost their honor and will be ex-communicated from the network or region.

Source: India West News; Investopedia Definition