Delhi Police unearths int’l money laundering network, arrests two

NEW DELHI: With the arrest of two criminals here, the Delhi Police has uncovered a cross-border money laundering network that funnelled proceeds of fraud to Pakistan-based handlers through the cryptocurrency channel, an official said on Wednesday.

Both the men, associated with the Gogi-Sonu Kharkhari gang, were caught from Samaypur Badli area on October 2, he said. According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outernorth) Hareshwar Swami, one of the arrested men, Ritik alias Bomb (22), is designated ‘bad character’ at the Kapashera police station.

He was not only involved in multiple crimes including robbery and culpable homicide but was also allegedly a mediator facilitating cryptocurrency-based financial transactions with Pakistani nationals.

The second accused arrested has been identified as Chandan (19), a history-sheeter.

“Ritik was in touch with Pakistani nationals through social media using foreign numbers. He was found facilitating cryptocurrency transactions to Pakistani handlers using a mobile application,” he said. Swami said that during interrogation, Ritik revealed that he has been in contact with six Pakistani nationals for nearly four months.

These handlers allegedly ran fake loan applications and other cyber scams targeting Indian victims.

Ritik procured UPI IDs from Indian crypto traders -- identified as Rahul Gujjar, Yash and Akash -- and sent them to Pakistani handlers. Once victims made payments to these UPI IDs through fake loan apps, the Pakistani handlers sent screenshots of the transaction to Ritik. Ritik handled crypto conversions for Pakistan-based handlers, funnelling proceeds from fake loan apps into USDT wallets.

Aide to gangster Sonu Kharkhari, he has six prior cases, while his associate

Chandan has two.