KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday remanded the prime suspect in judicial custody in a case pertaining to the kidnapping of a cryptocurrency trader who had paid $340,000 worth of digital coins as ransom for his release.

The investigating officer (IO) produced Ali Raza, said to be a head constable in the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), before the administrative judge of the ATC in Clifton, seeking an extension of his physical custody for further interrogation.

He informed the court that the suspect’s police custody was further required to recover the remaining USDT coins worth $120,000.

However, the court rejected the request and sent the suspect to prison on judicial custody.

According to the FIR, crypto trader Arsalan Malik was abducted on Dec 25, 2024, at 1:40am in a police mobile bearing no number plate by five men in plain clothes. They brought him near the FIA Saddar office, forcibly got opened his Binance account and transferred USDT coins worth $340,000 into different digital wallets/accounts. They then reset his cell phone, handed it back to him and dropped him near the Quaid-i-Azam mausoleum at 4am.

Later, eight suspects were booked and arrested for their alleged involvement in the trader’s kidnapping and for releasing him after he transferred the ransom into their digital wallets.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2025