Parvinder, one of the key players of a dark web of narcotics syndicate, has been remanded in ED custody till Wednesday. US officials have informed ED that more than 8,000 bitcoins (worth over Rs 4,000 crore) have been received by ‘The Singh Organisation’ as proceeds of crime.
Parvinder, wanted by the US since 2019 when his brother Banmeet was arrested in the UK, was living with his father in Haldwani at the time of his arrest.
Last year, UK authorities extradited Banmeet to the US, where he was convicted last month and sentenced to five years in prison.
The Singh brothers were involved in narcotics smuggling through the network of ‘The Singh Organisation’ on the dark web. Before the action began here, US authorities shared information with ED about the organisation’s transnational operations and the money trail of over Rs 2,100 crore in possession of Parvinder from the ‘proceeds of crime’.
‘The Singh Organisation’ operated through dark web markets Silk Road, AlphaBay and Hansa, according to information shared with the Indian agencies. American investigators have seized several dark web communications of the accused revealing their network and involvement of other accused.
After its search operation on May 1, sources said ED seized Rs 135 crore worth of bitcoins from Parvinder in Haldwani where he is currently in ED custody. Agency sources said the accused may not be deported to the US and would rather be tried here under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
“US authorities have extended their gratitude and thanked ED for taking prompt actions to execute their requests leading to Parvinder Singh’s arrest and crores in drug money being seized,” a source in the agency said. American authorities have evinced interest in “mutual capacity building” with ED for future probes and “learn from each other” in such specialised operations involving money laundering using crypto currencies.
During his questioning in custody, Parvinder shared details of the crypto currency wallets used by ‘The Singh Organisation’ and payments received in bitcoins from drug trafficking activities. Based on this information, ED conducted another search on May 1 and seized 268 bitcoins (approx Rs 135 crore) from wallets controlled by the syndicate.
“Further, after search, enquiries made on blockchain explorer revealed that the 4,250 bitcoins (worth over Rs 2,100 crore) claimed by the US authorities to be with Parvinder Singh appears to be lying on the same address as shared by the US authorities,” the source said.
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