ED raids multiple premises in Nalanda in money laundering case

Patna: Separate teams of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday conducted raids at four places in Bihar’s Nalanda district as part of a money laundering investigation related to cryptocurrency.

According to sources, individuals involved in the racket used a gaming app called FIEWIN to dupe people.

The ED teams carried out raids at Amber Naisarai, Garhpar, Hospital Chowk, and Badi Pahadi Mohalla areas of the district. During the operations, the ED officials seized important documents, laptops, and hard disks. However, no arrests have been made in connection with the case so far.

Confirming the raids, Ramashankar Singh, the SHO of the City police station, said, “The operations were carried out confidentially. The details have not been shared by the ED officials."

Sources said the operators of the FIEWIN gaming app reportedly have links to Chinese nationals, whose involvement cannot be ruled out. The operators allegedly amassed crores of rupees through the gaming app and transferred the cryptocurrency earnings abroad.

The raids were initiated after information was received that some individuals in Biharsharif were involved in share trading and were enticing people to invest in the FIEWIN app, which promised returns ranging from double to 36 times the investment by guessing colours.

The winners could earn in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.