Delhi: International car smuggler held for running extortion racket
An interstate extortion racket being run by international car smuggler Alex Joseph was busted by the special cell of the Delhi Police on Friday.
An interstate extortion racket being run by international car smuggler Alex Joseph was busted by the special cell of the Delhi Police on Friday.
Ten members of the gang, including Alex, were arrested in connection with coercing big businessmen to pay money by sending them fake summons by the Enforcement Directorate(ED), police said.
Alex was earlier arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the ED, and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) for allegedly smuggling luxury cars from other countries and evading import duty worth over ₹200 crore.
He was involved in illegal import of high-end SUVs and cars such as Rolls-Royce, Mini Cooper, Mercedes, Land Cruiser, BMW, Prado, Range Rover and Hummer. He imported around 500 cars from Dubai as second hand vehicles.
“Alex’s previous criminal records show that he had gifted such luxury cars to Bollywood actors, politicians, bureaucrats and several business tycoons in the country. India’s most notorious con man, Romesh Sharma, was among the recipients,” said a senior police officer. He added that the relatives of a former Tamil Nadu CM too, received luxury cars from Alex. Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, deputy commissioner of police (special cell), said Alex and his accomplices were arrested following investigation into an extortion case registered at the Tughlaq Road police station in September.
“Kolkata based businessmen Sanjay Surekha and Mahavir Aggarwal had received summon from ED asking them to join investigation in alleged money laundering complaints against their companies. But, as they approached ED office they found no such summons were issued by the directorate,” said Yadav.