In a recent cybercrime racket bust, the Enforcement Directorate’s Surat sub-zonal office arrested Makbul Abdul Rehman Doctor, Kaashif Makbul Doctor, Mahesh Mafatlal Desai, and Om Rajendra Pandya under Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, according to a PTI report.
They were produced before the Special PMLA Court in Ahmedabad, which remanded them to ED custody for five days to facilitate the ongoing investigation.
The case originates from a Gujarat Police FIR filed in October 2024 by the Special Operation Group in Surat.
The accused are alleged to have defrauded individuals via digital arrest scams, fake regulatory notices, and fraudulent forex/USDT trading schemes.
ED claims they routed illicit funds through bank accounts opened in the names of associates, used pre-activated SIM cards, and moved money via hawala/angadiya networks, converting it into crypto (USDT) to evade detection. So far, the agency says the Proceeds of Crime (POC) involved exceed ₹100 crore.
The ED earlier conducted raids in Gujarat and Maharashtra, including in Surat, Ahmedabad, and Mumbai, as part of this ₹100 crore cyber fraud probe.
Officials say the wider network includes several accomplices using forged KYC documents, dummy accounts, and shell entities.
The ED also alleges the syndicate remitted funds abroad via hawala and crypto channels to mask the money trail. Investigations are ongoing, and further arrests, asset seizures, and linkage to international crypto exchanges are being explored.
