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A crafty drug dealer allegedly got an acquaintance to be his unknowing accomplice in a money laundering operation, after he allegedly asked him to buy and sell cryptocurrency on his behalf to conceal the source of the funds.
The 26-year-old Pakistani is standing trial at the High Criminal Court on charges of laundering more than BD38,000, which he had earned by dealing in drugs and associating with a narcotics-trading network.
The court heard that he gave the money to an innocent friend, to whom he transferred it in the form of peer-to-peer digital currency, and asked him to re-sell it on his behalf.
Authorities first started suspecting the defendant last year, after the National Centre for Financial Intelligence allegedly detected some shady-looking transitions.
The case was referred to the Public Prosecution, which looked into the situation further and accused the Pakistani of acting as a proxy for an international drug trafficking network, specialised in importing and promoting illicit substances.
The defendant reportedly admitted to taking the drug profits, while aware of their source, and that the numerous transactions he carried out was to make the funds appear above board.
He was referred to criminal trial on charges of laundering BD38,109.
“The defendant’s role was to receive large sums of money, and cycle it between bank accounts to give it legitimacy,” an officer from the centre previously stated.
“He received the funds from currency exchange bureaus or withdrew them from ATMs, then re-deposited them in banks, and went on to invest the amounts in digital currency markets.
“He then resold the cryptocurrency through the well-meaning individual, and the cycle continued from there.”
Judges set October 14 as the date to issue a verdict.
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