FIA yet to access crypto wallets of Armaghan, ATC told

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Tuesday handed over the custody of Armaghan, the prime suspect in the Mustafa Amir murder case, to the Federal Investigation Agency for nine more days in a money laundering case after it was informed that the agency was yet to access crypto wallets maintained by him.

FIA Assistant Director Shahid Ali produced the suspect before the administrative judge of the ATCs at the judicial complex inside the central prison on the completion of his physical remand and sought a nine-day extension in his remand in the agency's custody for further investigation.

The investigating officer submitted Armaghan's medical report, declaring him to be completely fit.

He said that during the suspect's interrogation in the FIA custody, it transpired that he had been involved in running an illegal call centre and obtaining sensitive banking information from victims. He added that the suspect transferred illicitly obtained funds into merchant accounts on platforms such as Stripe, Authorize.net, and Swipe Simple, which were provided to him by his accomplices (merchants) based in both the US and Pakistan.

He said that Armaghan had been utilizing seven bank accounts (straw accounts) maintained in the names of his employees at various banks through which approximately Rs210 million had been routed.

Additionally, the eight expensive vehicles worth Rs155 million retained by him during the time of fraud from January 2023 to September 23, 2024 had also been traced and two of them worth Rs110 million had been recovered by this agency, the IO added.

He stated that the accused had also been maintaining two offline Bitcoin wallets, Exodus and Electrum, suspectedly containing bitcoins worth thousands of dollars, adding that the passwords and private keys associated with these wallets were yet to be traced with his assistance.

The FIA official said Armaghan would also be questioned about benami transactions, other available records, including voluminous bank records, and that one vehicle, Black Revo, was yet to be recovered from him.

He, therefore, requested an extension in Armaghan's physical remand to complete the investigation. Advocate Khurram Abbas Awan appeared in the court along with the suspect's mother, stating that she had engaged him to represent her son in the case. He sought the court's permission to have the vakalatnama signed by Armaghan, which the court allowed.

The judge noted that Armaghan was arrested by the FIA in the present case on April 10 and he was remanded in the agency's custody for five days. He handed Armaghan in the FIA custody for nine more days for further investigation with a direction to the FIA officer to ensure that the suspect is produced before the court on the next date of hearing, April 24, without fail.

The IO was further instructed to submit a comprehensive medical certificate of Armaghan duly signed and attested by a designated and authorised medical officer of a recognized government medical facility, confirming the physical and mental well-being of the accused during the remand period.

“This remand is granted strictly in accordance with the provisions of law and to facilitate a fair and impartial investigation in the interest of justice,” said the judge. He added that the suspect had the right to meet his lawyer and family as per law.

“The accused was inquired whether any maltreatment had been inflicted upon him by the FIA during custody, to which he categorically denied any such incident,” the order read. “He was further questioned regarding the conduct of his medical examination, to which he responded affirmatively.”

Armaghan has been booked by FIA for allegedly committing offences punishable under sections 3 (offence of money laundering) and 4 (punishment for money laundering) of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010 (Amended 2020).