Crucial Evidence
KARACHI: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has uncovered significant evidence of large-scale money laundering linked to Armughan Qureshi, also known as Army, who is the primary suspect in the abduction and murder case of Mustafa Amir.
The investigation, which is ongoing, has led to the submission of an interim charge sheet to the Anti-Terrorism Administrative Court at Karachi Central Jail, shedding light on Armughan’s elaborate network of financial crimes.
The FIA’s findings suggest that Armughan, along with his accomplices, engaged in sophisticated fraudulent activities, including impersonating officials from various U.S. government agencies to defraud American citizens.
As part of his operations, he ran multiple call centers and established a company in 2018. Through these operations, Armughan is estimated to have generated between $300,000 and $400,000 per month in illicit income.
A significant portion of his earnings was reportedly transferred into cryptocurrency, which he used to launder the funds. The interim charge sheet revealed that Armughan owned eight luxury vehicles worth over Rs154 million and that digital evidence, including 18 laptops and fraudulent call scripts, had been recovered by the FIA.
To further expand his criminal operations, Armughan enlisted two foreign agents, Lisa and Sophie, who assisted in setting up a fraudulent company called “Trademark Comin.” This company targeted U.S. citizens and is believed to have generated approximately $25 million in annual revenue.
Call center agents involved in these operations were reportedly hired with a starting salary of $75,000, with potential earnings reaching up to $450,000. Payments to employees were processed through third-party channels to obscure their true source.
The financial records also indicated that Armughan maintained a business account under the name of Kamran Qureshi at Truist Bank in Maryland, USA, which was purportedly for “software services.” Additionally, Armughan operated other business accounts under the name “CRUZERS,” which were linked to multiple merchant terminals and payment gateways used to facilitate illegal transactions.
To conceal the fraudulent nature of the transactions, deceptive payment descriptors, such as “US Patent Trademark” and “US Trademarks,” were employed.
Once the illicit funds were transferred to identifiable bank accounts, Armughan converted them into Bitcoin via the Coinbase platform.
The funds were subsequently moved to crypto wallets on platforms like Paxful and Noones and later exchanged for fiat currency or USDT. These transactions were carried out using multiple email addresses, including “therealboss1111@protonmail.com” and “sarwathussain009@outlook.com,” which were registered for cryptocurrency wallets and to carry out other financial activities.
The FIA’s investigation has also revealed that the laundered money was used to purchase both movable and immovable assets, in addition to paying salaries and commissions to individuals involved in these criminal activities.
The evidence points to a complex and well-organized money laundering operation that involved not only domestic participants but also foreign agents, underlining the international scope of the illicit activities.
