Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir government Friday said that eighteen persons have been booked in cases related to unlawful activities and exchange of hawala money in connection with cross-LoC trade and Rs 2.38 crore have been recovered.
A total number of five cases have been registered against eighteen persons and an amount of Rs 2.38 crore have been recovered in connection with incidents of hawala money exchange and other unlawful activities during cross-LoC trade between 2009 and 2012, Minister of State for Industries and Commerce Sajjad Ahmed Kitchloo said in a written reply to a question of MLA Chaman Lal Gupta in the Assembly Friday.
While challan in one case has been submitted to the government for sanction, four other cases are under investigation, he said.
The cross-LoC trade between the two divided parts of Jammu and Kashmir started in 2008 via two LoC points of Chakan-Da-Bagh in Poonch district and Salamabad in Baramulla district.
Kitchloo, however, added that traders from Jammu and Kashmir were benefiting from the cross LoC trade as no import/export duty is levied on the trade items.
The minister also said that as per the additional guidelines of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, GoI,  in July 2012,  all those items listed in the agreed list would be allowed to be traded subject to the condition that products of third country origin would not be allowed to be traded.