KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Wednesday allowed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to interrogate Armaghan in prison, who was booked in a money laundering case.

The federal agency booked Armaghan, the prime suspect in Mustafa murder case, for offences under Section 3 (offence of money laundering) and 4 (punishment for money laundering) of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010 (Amended 2020).

On Wednesday, FIA Assistant Director Shahid Ali filed an application before the ATC-IV judge, seeking permission to interrogate Armaghan in prison in a money laundering case.

After examining the application, the court allowed the FIA’s plea and noted that it had no objection to granting permission for the suspect’s interrogation inside the jail for nine days, from sunrise to sunset, between March 26 and April 3.

The court also directed the FIA to submit a progress report to the relevant authorities.

According to the FIR, during a raid on Feb 8 at the bungalow of Armaghan, the law enforcement agency recovered multiple laptops, weapons and instruments specifically intended for online financial fraud.

It added that the Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC) later referred the matter to the FIA’s Anti-Money Laundering Circle.

The FIA claimed that it conducted an authorised search at the bungalow, seizing 18 laptops and copies of scripts used to defraud victims.

These scripts contained detailed instructions for calling agents — employees of Armaghan — who impersonated officials from internationally recognised bodies such as the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) to unlawfully extract sensitive personal and financial information from victims.

It added that the staff allegedly admitted to the FIA that, as per instructions from their employer, Armaghan, they called US citizens and collected their personal and financial information while posing as officials from USPTO and WIPO.

Later, the calling agents allegedly instructed victims to make transactions into an account linked to Armaghan as a purported fee, while their personal information was passed on to him as per his instructions.

Fraudulent operations

The FIA stated that the suspect had started his career from 2015 till 2017, while working with multiple IT companies. Later, he established his own illegal call centre operation in 2018, internationally structured to conduct fraudulent activities. He also registered an entity in the US, strategically positioning himself to channel illicit proceeds internationally.

The suspect employed at least 25 calling agents at a time, each with a target of defrauding at least five victims per shift. As each victim was charged between $400 and $999, evidence suggests that Armaghan accrued approximately $300,000 to $400,000 per month from his illegal call centre, it added.

The FIA further claimed that the suspect also illicitly routed derived funds in cryptocurrencies via platforms like Paxful and NoOnes (online cryptocurrency trading/P2P platforms), effectively disguising their criminal origin. The suspect sold the cryptocurrencies on a need basis through Paxful and NoOnes and other platforms. He purchased expensive cars and paid for them through proceeds of cryptocurrency sales.

He made the cryptocurrency buyers to transfer funds directly from their respective bank accounts to the accounts of showrooms or vehicle sellers.

It also found that the suspect had opened bank accounts using identity information of his servants Abdul Rahim and Rahim Bakhsh, adding that debit cards had been issued against these accounts which were used by Armaghan to meet his day-to-day expenses. These accounts were replenished with crime proceeds from third-party accounts, it claimed.

The FIA listed eight cars belonging to Armaghan, of which five had already been sold by the suspect. It added that the initial probe found assets worth approximately Rs154 million, allegedly acquired by Armaghan through criminal proceeds.

The agency also claimed that the suspect, Armaghan and his father, Kamran Asghar Qureshi, had allegedly set up companies in the US as front businesses, which were reasonably believed to be linked to their money laundering operations.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2025