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Indian authorities have raided the offices and residence of jeweller Joy Alukkas, which operates several stores in the UAE, over allegations of hawala deals.
The raid, carried out by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), took place at the jeweller’s head office in Kerala and his residence in Thrissur.
The searches started on Wednesday morning and lasted until in the evening, according to media reports.
The raids were conducted just days after the jeweller announced the withdrawal of its $278 million initial public offering (IPO).
According to the reports, the authorities received a tip-off that the jeweller was allegedly involved in hawala money transfers to Dubai.
Hawala is an ancient method of transferring funds from one location to another without any physical money actually moving.
(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria)
