Drug kingpin arrested

A resident of Agripada, where he also owned a hotel which was used as a front for his money laundering business, he also owns properties at Morland Road in Mumbai Central, Bandra and at Dongri which have been attached by the Directorate of Intelligence Revenue (DRI) under COFEPOSA. Chappalwala also had a property in London, sources said.

Chappalwala’s tryst with narcotics began when he first came in contact with landing agents Dinesh Shetty, Raj Koli and Puranmal. The landings were executed on the shores of Haji Ali and Mahalaxmi. Chappalwala then began sending containers containing both electronic items, computer chips and narcotics. The electronic items and computer chips were sent to CIS and Africa from the Middle East, while drugs were sent to Africa from Mumbai and Karachi. All his deals in Africa where he developed close political connections were conducted through his close confidante Umar.

He then ventured into havala transactions and in Mumbai most of his operations were conducted through a hotel near the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. In this hotel, prime accused in the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai Yakub Memon worked as a chartered accountant and studied the intricacies of havala. At present one Javed and Parvez from Bandra run the show.

Chappalwala also developed close links with Italian and Canadian syndicates.The modus operandi used was to buy dollars from Hong Kong and Middle East and convert them into roubles in Russia. The roubles were then used for procuring goods through which the money is transferred on and is deposited abroad for the concerned parties