In a huge success, an international cryptocurrency network involving Rs 226 crore, with a wanted accused having links to a terror outfit Hamas, has been busted by the Gujarat CID Crime, as informed by the officials on Tuesday. Nine people have been arrested, seven from Ahmedabad and one each from Mumbai and Karnal in Haryana. All these were part of the syndicate.
The CID Crime's Cyber Centre of Excellence (CCoE) revealed that the syndicate's Binance accounts were involved in 935 cyber fraud cases, and had links to global terror funding, narcotics, and the dark web.
"The technical unit of the CCoE uncovered this sophisticated network by analysing cryptocurrency wallets and transactions. The investigation revealed that the syndicate was operating on the dark web for narcotics distribution, money laundering, and financing designated international terrorist organisations," a press release statement noted.
According to the CCoE, the accused were directly linked to terror funding, with the wallet of the Dubai-based kingpin Mohammed Zuber Popatiya, a wanted in the case, frozen in 2025 by Israel's National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF). Popatiya maintained direct transactional links with the 'Dubai Company for Exchange', a front used by the terror outfit, Hamas, it stated.
Interrogations and evidence recovered from one Mohsin Molani, arrested from Ahmedabad, also exposed a massive drug trafficking operation running in the United Kingdom since 2023, it said. Molani was in touch with Popatiya for narcotics supply in the UK, and managed orders with one Salman Gulamali Ansari, who was sentenced to six years of imprisonment in October 2024 and is currently in a UK prison, from where he continues to manage the drug network, it said.
Ansari and Popatiya allegedly acted as the masterminds of this terror-finance and Monero routing structure, the CCoE said.
"The generated illicit cash was funnelled back to India through Angadia and Hawala networks. Molani would collect it and hand it over to Ansari's father, Gulam Sadiq Ibadullah Ansari (who was arrested from Ahmedabad)," it said.
Investigations have also revealed that funds were actively transferred into the syndicate's wallets from entities blacklisted by the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). These included Yemen's 'Ansar Allah' (Houthi) rebel group, Iran's 'IRGC-QF', Russia's sanctioned exchange 'Garantex', and wallets associated with the Ilan Shor cluster," it said.
Deep technical analysis of Molani's digital wallet exposed interconnected financial transactions with nine other suspicious crypto users across India. The syndicate used untraceable, anonymous cryptocurrencies like Monero, which are globally preferred for terror financing and dark web activities, to evade detection by law enforcement agencies.
"They rotated these funds internally across their personal wallets, converted this 'dirty crypto' into stable USDT coins, and systematically routed the money into international criminal networks. Interrogations and evidence recovered from Mohsin Molani exposed a massive drug trafficking operation running in the United Kingdom since 2023," it said.
A case has been registered against the organised syndicate for criminal conspiracy, aiding terrorist operations through financial channels, and waging activities detrimental to national safety, under sections 111(2)(B), 153, and 61 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2008.
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