KARACHI: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) informed an anti-terrorism court on Tuesday that Armaghan, the prime suspect in the Mustafa Amir’s murder case, had been operating seven straw (benami) accounts, maintained through his employees.

A straw account — a bank account held by someone other than the beneficial owner — is considered a benami transaction and is prohibited under the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 2017.

Suspect Armaghan has been booked in a money laundering case under Sections 3 (offence of money laundering) and 4 (punishment for money laundering) of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010 (Amended 2020).

On Tuesday, the investigating officer of the case, FIA’s Assistant Director Shahid Ali, brought Armaghan before the administrative judge of the ATCs and sought extension in his physical custody for nine more days in a money laundering case.

Judge extends suspect’s remand in money laundering case for nine more days

The IO submitted a progress report, stating that the suspect was allegedly involved in setting up an illegal call centre, where he, along with other alleged accomplices, defrauded individuals by impersonating representatives of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

The report further stated that the suspect transferred the illicit proceeds into “merchant” accounts on platforms such as Stripe, Authorize.net, and Swipe Simple.

It was also revealed that the suspect had been operating seven bank accounts — identified as straw accounts — maintained in the names of his employees across various banks, through which approximately Rs210 million had been routed.

The IO further claimed that eight high-value vehicles, worth around Rs155m, were retained by the suspect during the period of the fraud, spanning from January 2023 to September 2024.

Of these, two vehicles, with an estimated combined value of Rs110m, have so far been recovered by the FIA.

It said the suspect had been maintaining two offline Bitcoin wallets through Exodus and Electrum. However, the passwords and private keys associated with these wallets are yet to be traced or recovered, and efforts are underway with the assistance of the suspect, it added.

During the proceedings, the mother of the suspect appeared before the court along with new defence counsel Khurram Abbas Awan and sought permission to submit a Vakalatnama on behalf of the suspect, which was later allowed after Armaghan signed the document in court.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2025