Constable Rajinder Pillai, retired constable Anil Kumar and Sashi Kumar, the businessman, are being interrogated on what they planned to do with so much cash.
Interrogation of Naga insurgents in the past have revealed that hawala operators in Kolkata help them in transferring money to overseas arms dealers. Recently, two Thai women were arrested from Kolkata airport with $60,000. During interrogation, Amphai Thongthang -
one of those arrested she that she was to hand over the cash to an NSCN(IM) operative. The money had allegedly been given to her by a Naga nightclub owner in Bangkok.
Over the last few years, militant outfits from Manipur and Nagaland have been using Kolkata for a variety of purposes. One of these is to collect extortion and ransom amounts. The outfits are also known to make use of the illegal money transfer rackets that operate in the city. Kolkata is crucial to them as it is the closest location from where international flights are available.