Woman arrested from Mangalore for funds transfer racket

A woman "kingpin" of an illegal money transaction racket operating in Lakhisari in Bihar with Pakistani link, has been arrested from Karnataka by Bihar Police.

A woman "kingpin" of an illegal money transaction racket operating in Lakhisari in Bihar with Pakistani link, has been arrested from Karnataka by Bihar Police.

A team of Bihar Police arrested Aysha Bano from Mangalore. Her husband, Zubair, who runs a bidi business was detained, Lakhisarai Superintendent of Police Rajiv Mishra told PTI.

They were being brought to Bihar, he said.

Sources said Aysha Bano, mother of three children and referred to as "Pakistan boss", allegedly used to pass instruction to agents here to deposit money in designated bank accounts.

Preliminary inquiry has revealed that she was handled from Pakistan, the police said.

The woman was arrested on the basis of an FIR lodged at Lakhisarai, 70 km from here.

The racket was busted on the basis of an alert from NIA while investigating serial blasts at Patna and Bodh Gaya explosions.

Four persons were arrested from outside an HDFC ATM on Friday last in this connection and send to Lakhisarai jail.

Police said the four persons allegedly used to lure poor people to open bank accounts by paying them Rs 2000 and on these accounts money used to come from unknowns destinations, mostly from abroad.

Later, instructions used to be sent through SMS from Pakistan numbers to withdraw cash from these accounts and deposit them in account numbers provided to them in the SMS.

The Lakhisarai police had seized 25 ATM cards, 35 passbooks and cheques from the arrested.