FB pic of car, LPG delivery help ED crack money laundering case

Distinct clues ranging from Facebook images and LPG gas cylinder deliveries to intelligence reports from Chennai Customs and data from the Tamil Nadu government’s commercial taxes wing were crucial to the Enforcement Directorate busting the International Trade Based Money Laundering (TBML) scam in Chennai.

- SIDDHARTH PRABHAKAR @Chennai

The genuineness of import documents submitted by the account holders to send out foreign currency to Hong Kong. The then Customs commissioner swiftly confirmed that the documents were fake and immediately issued an intelligence report. In addition, the bank was asked to stop the transactions and preserve its CCTV footage to help identify those operating the accounts. Since the Customs officer had worked with ED earlier, he realised that TBML was at play and directed the bank to file a complaint with the central agency. The CCTV footage helped ED establish that Mani Anbazhagan, one of the seven convicted, had been visiting the bank regularly to operate bank accounts in th