About seven suspicious bank transactions, possibly linked to either money laundering or terror funding, have been reported in the district.
The Intelligence Bureau (IB) has launched an inquiry into the monetary transactions that took place through banks located in the Wadakkancherry region over the past two months.
According to IB officials, the investigation began following complaints by a group of youngsters, mostly from economically backward families, at the Adattukunnu Colony, Varavur, in Thrissur. In a petition, the youths stated that a person, who was residing in their locality, had insisted them to open savings bank accounts in nationalised banks.
After the accounts were opened, he deceptively obtained the ATM cards and chequebooks from them. Thereafter, several large transactions, from unknown sources, were made through their accounts. The Wadakkancherry police also confirmed the reports and said that they had quizzed Mujeeb Vengilaparambil, who allegedly conducted the financial transactions.
“It was at Mujeeb’s insistence that the youths opened the bank accounts and it was after this that lakhs of rupees were remitted to these accounts, which he withdrew using ATM cards,” the police said. Preliminary investigation also revealed that seven such accounts had been opened with State Bank of India branches at Wadakkancherry and Chovvannur. The passbooks and ATM cards of all the accounts were in Mujeeb’s possession, while money was consistently being deposited into these accounts from unknown sources, the police confirmed.
However, the exact amount of money that flowed through the accounts in a short span of time is yet to be ascertained. “We have not registered any case on the basis of the complaints, since these fall in the category of economic offences,” they added.