Rail ticket racket linked to terror, laundering busted

NEW DELHI: In a crackdown on illegal ticketing, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) has arrested a self-taught software developer who was part of a racket with links to Pakistan, Bangladesh and Dubai with suspected involvement in terror financing. The RPF said software developer Gulam Mustafa, who is from Jharkhand, was arrested in Bhubaneswar and was sent to judicial custody on Monday.
RPF director general Arun Kumar said they have recovered two laptops from Mustafa with a software named ANMS. “Through this software, the gang bypassed the barriers set up to curb illegal ticketing, like providing captcha and bank OTPs. The gang was earning nearly Rs 10-15 crore per month. The first aim of these organised rackets is to generate cash. Once money is amassed, then they turn towards terror financing. All the information gathered from them has indicated a link to terror financing and money-laundering,” he said.
The security agencies have found that Mustafas laptop had an application to create fake Aadhaar cards.
The RPF has identified one Hamid Ashraf as the head of this racket, who originally belonged to Basti in UP and was wanted in a case of bombing in a school in Gonda (UP) last year. Ashraf has fled to Dubai via Nepal.
Kumar said Mustafa had not received any formal education and studied in madrassas in Odisha. He has 563 personal IRCTC IDs and a list of 2,400 SBI branches and 600 regional rural banks where he is susRead More – Source

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