India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) says it has frozen 44.5 more bitcoins as part of an ongoing money laundering investigation into mobile gaming app E-nuggets. In the same investigation, nearly 86 bitcoins were already frozen by Binance’s crypto exchange.
India’s ED Freezes More Bitcoin in E-nuggets Case
India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) announced Thursday that it has frozen 44.5 bitcoins under the country’s Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The ED is the government of India’s law enforcement and economic intelligence agency.
Official Twitter account of the ED tweets:
ED has carried out search operation at 2 premises in Kolkata and seized cash of Rs 1.65 Cr, froze 44.5 bitcoin (equivalent Rs 7.12 Cr) & other incriminating documents under PMLA, in respect to an investigation being conducted relating to the mobile gamming app., namely E-nuggets.
The authority explained: “Aamir Khan, s/o Nesar Ahmed Khan launched a mobile gaming application namely E-Nuggets, which was designed for the purpose of defrauding public … It was revealed that multiple accounts (more than 300) were used to launder the money.”
Prior to Thursday’s announcement, the ED has already frozen cryptocurrencies relating to its investigation of E-nuggets several times.
September 28th, the ED stated that it had frozen 77.62710139 Bitcoins at Binance cryptocurrency exchange. Further BTC were also frozen by the authority. In its Sept. 30 announcement, the ED said a total of “85.91870554 bitcoins equivalent to USD $1674255.7 (equivalent to Rs 13.56 Cr approx. as per market exchange rate) found in balance in Binance exchange was freezed.” The ED has also frozen WRX (the utility token of Indian crypto exchange Wazirx) and stablecoin tether (USDT) equivalent to Rs 47.64 lakhs in Wazirx accounts relating to the E-nuggets case.
Thursday was declared by the ED:
This case was investigated under PMLA. A total of Rs 51.16 Cr was taken/frozen.
How do you feel about additional Bitcoin being frozen by the ED? Please comment below.
Images CreditsShutterstock. Pixabay. Wiki Commons
DisclaimerThis information is provided for educational purposes only. This article is not intended to be a solicitation or offer to sell or buy any product, service, or company. Bitcoin.com is not a provider of investment, tax, legal or accounting advice. The author and the company are not responsible for any loss or damage caused by the content or use of any goods, services, or information mentioned in the article.