FIA seeks court approval to access Bitcoin trading platform linked to Armaghan Qureshi, the prime suspect in Mustafa Amir murder case

KARACHI: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has sought court approval to access the Bitcoin trading platform linked to Armaghan Qureshi, the prime suspect in the Mustafa Amir murder case

Karachi: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Wednesday sought a court’s approval to access the Bitcoin trading platform linked to Armaghan Qureshi, the prime suspect in Mustafa Amir murder case, as part of an ongoing money laundering probe.

During the hearing, the FIA requested the court to issue orders for obtaining account details from the cryptocurrency trading platform.

The agency told the court that the suspect had created accounts on the platform in the names of his two employees, adding that the agency had joined the bitcoin trading platform as a pro-party in the case.

The agency further urged the court to direct the cryptocurrency trading platforms to provide details of Armaghan’s accounts, transactions, trading history and IP addresses.

Moreover, the court sought information from foreign cryptocurrency trading companies.

Earlier, Armaghan was booked in another case after a first information report (FIR) was filed against him over his alleged involvement in money laundering and fraud.

The FIR, which was registered on behalf of the government in the Anti-Money Laundering Circle, accused Armaghan of being involved in hundi, digital currency and other illegal activities.

Armaghan, who is currently in judicial custody, allegedly carried out the kidnapping and murder of Mustafa Amir after he went missing on January 6.

The whole case unravelled after Armaghan opened fire at a team of the Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC) — a specialised unit of the Karachi police responsible for tackling cases related to murder and extortion — during a raid at his residence in Karachi's Defence Housing Authority (DHA) earlier this month.

The deceased's body — found by police in a car near the Hub checkpoint on January 12 — was later exhumed and subsequently buried after an initial DNA profiling report confirmed that the mortal remains belonged to Mustafa.

According to reports, Armaghan is also said to be involved in the supply of narcotics to youths and girls in the city.

Additionally, it has also been alleged that Armaghan was allegedly responsible for supplying hundreds of youth with drugs and also subject several girls and boys to torture.

Meanwhile, last week, a local court rejected Armaghan’s request to record his confessional statement, citing concerns regarding his mental state.

The court's decision to reject Armaghan's plea for a statement - which comes in Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code - came after he reportedly vacillated between confessing and refusing to provide a statement in the court of judicial magistrate (South).

According to reports, the court had previously ordered on January 11 that Armaghan be brought to the court on Wednesday for recording his confessional statement in the presence of a magistrate.

However, when Armaghan was brought to the court, his lawyer made an application to the court requesting that his client's confessional statement be recorded.

The court, after hearing arguments from both sides, decided to reject Armaghan's plea for a statement.

Moreover, the court also directed the police to complete the investigation in the case at the earliest.

Monthly income in dollars

Meanwhile, the latest FIR against Armaghan, which includes money laundering allegations, claims that the suspect used to earn $300,000 to $400,000 each month.

The amount, the FIR adds, was then converted to digital currency, which was used to purchase vehicles owned by him.

With the FIR alleging that the suspect had opened bank accounts in the name of two of his employees, the FIA claimed that Armaghan's call centre was used to make fraudulent calls to the United States.

The calls were used to obtain critical information from US citizens, which then were used to fraudulently extract money from them which was eventually received by Armaghan.

Elaborating on Armaghan's illegal activities, the FIR alleges that the suspect established his illegal call centre in 2018 and was operating an organised fraud network.

Each person working at the call centre used to defraud five people daily.

Claiming that the suspect had sold five of his vehicles and currently owned three which were worth millions, the FIR adds that he had also established a company in the US with his father Kamran Qureshi, who is also in police custody, for hawala-hundi.