Panaji: Directorate of enforcement (ED), Panaji, has filed a supplementary prosecution complaint in connection with the alleged organised inter-state and cross-border trafficking of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. ED said that proceeds of crime were layered through banking channels and routed to Dubai for conversion into cryptocurrency (USDT).ED filed the prosecution complaint before principal district and sessions judge, North Goa, against Nihal Vadakkancherry Nazer, Prasobh P K, Alfin Thomas, Dheeraj Mathews and Nishant Pratap under Section 44 read with Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), for commission of the offence of money laundering as defined under Section 3 and punishable under Section 4 of the Act.The supplementary prosecution complaint has been filed in continuation of the main prosecution complaint earlier filed.ED said that the main prosecution complaint was filed against seven accused persons and had established the generation of proceeds of crime amounting to approximately Rs 3.9 crore through organised inter-state and cross-border trafficking of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.ED said that the investigation has since resulted in the identification and prosecution of the aforesaid five additional accused persons for their respective roles in the generation, procurement, layering, concealment and conversion of proceeds of crime, including cross-border conversion into cryptocurrency.ED’s Panaji zonal office had initiated an investigation under the PMLA on the basis of an FIR registered by the anti-narcotic cell (ANC) of Goa police against Madhupan S S.ED said that the investigation has established that Madhupan S S generated proceeds of crime of approximately Rs 3.9 crore through organised inter-state and cross-border trafficking of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances since 2016.“A part of these proceeds was layered through banking channels and routed to Dubai for conversion into cryptocurrency (USDT), which was thereafter utilized for procurement of narcotic substances through the dark web,” said ED. “During further investigation, the proceeds of crime attributable to the persons proceeded against in the supplementary prosecution complaint have also been quantified.”
