Money laundering: ED attaches Rs 33L assets of TN bootlegger

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth Rs 33 lakh of a Tamil Nadu-based bootlegger in connection with a money laundering case against him, the agency today said.
The central probe agency said it has issued a provisional attachment order, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), attaching cash and jewellery worth Rs 33 lakh of Suresh alias Kulithalai Suresh Kumar.
It said in a statement the bootlegger created these assets out of the "proceeds of crime of the sale of smuggled illicit arrack (a type of alcohol)."
The ED booked a PMLA case against him based on an FIR of the Mammallapuram police that also arrested him in 2015.

During the investigation, it said, it was found the man "smuggled illicit spirit affixing duplicate labels on liquor bottles and utilising vehicles with forged RC (registration certificate) books".
"The cash and gold jewellery were gained through smuggling of illicit arrack," the statement said.