Two more arrested for extortion of Rs 2.25 cr by posing as Customs sleuths

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The City Cybercrime police team has arrested two persons for allegedly extorting Rs 2.25 crore from a chartered accountant by posing as Customs officials. The arrested have been identified as Rejinaz Remi and Ashik, natives of Kozhikode. Around 70 PAN cards, around 100 Aadhaar cards and cheque leaves were found from them.

Earlier, four accused were arrested from Rajasthan and two from Mumbai.

They began the fraudulent activities by calling the chartered account on the phone, pretending to be Customs officials and claiming that intoxicants were found in the parcel which arrived at Mumbai airport along with a copy of passport and Aadhaar.

They also threatened to hand over the case to the CBI if Rs 2.25 crores is not handed over. The chartered accountant was frightened and paid this amount. The accused transferred this amount to around 70 accounts. Later they bought gold from jewellers in exchange for crypto currency. Six people were caught following the accounts.

During another account-focused investigation, it was found that one of the accused had withdrawn money from the Kozhikode branch of South Indian Bank. They were subsequently arrested. Under the supervision of Thiruvananthapuram City Police Commissioner Nidin Raj, a special investigation team consisting of Cybercrime Police Assistant Commissioner Hari, Police Inspector Bijukumar, Sub Inspector Bijulal, CPOs V Vipin and Vipin Bhaskar arrested the accused.