In a significant development, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has confiscated more than ₹130 crore worth of cryptocurrency and apprehended an individual from Uttarakhand, India. The arrest was made as part of an investigation into money laundering associated with drug trafficking, which was initiated at the request of US authorities.
The accused, identified as Parvinder Singh, was taken into custody on April 27 in Haldwani, located in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand, following a search operation conducted at his premises.
According to the central probe agency, the accused has agreed to surrender the proceeds generated from the sale of illegal drugs through the dark web. It is revealed that a significant portion of these sales occurred in European nations.
The investigation was launched based on a mutual legal assistance request from US authorities, invoking a unique provision under Section 2(ra) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. This particular section deals with offenses having cross-border implications, with the scheduled offenses aligning with the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
The Enforcement Directorate alleges that Parvinder Singh, along with his brother Banmeet Singh and several others, operated an international drug trafficking group known as the “Singh DTO,” where DTO stands for “drug trafficking organization.”
The ED states that the group utilized vendor marketing sites on the dark web, as well as numerous free advertisements on the clear web, in addition to a network of narcotics and controlled substance distributors, to carry out drug sales primarily in the United States, the United Kingdom, and various other European countries.
The “Singh organization” allegedly received proceeds from drug trafficking through sales on dark web markets and subsequently laundered these funds through cryptocurrency transactions.
The ED concludes that US authorities have already seized Bitcoins valued at thousands of crores of rupees, which were associated with the “Liston” moniker used by the Singh brothers on dark web platforms such as “Silk Road 1,” “Alpha Bay,” and “Hansa.”
