In an explosive revelation, Bihar Police have arrested a serving Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) havaldar accused of orchestrating a sprawling cyber fraud and hawala operation alongside a notorious cryptocurrency broker. The bust exposes a criminal network allegedly laundering black money through USDT and siphoning funds across state borders under the guise of legitimate business.
A Uniform Wrapped in Deceit: The Making of a Cyber Swindler
The arrest of Havaldar Pankaj Pandey, a serving jawan of SSB’s 47th Battalion, has jolted the state’s law enforcement. Pankaj, a resident of Ambika Nagar in Banjariya police station limits, was posted in Raxaul along the Indo-Nepal border, an area notorious for smuggling routes.
Police say that far from defending the country’s frontiers, Pankaj was deeply embedded in an interstate cybercrime syndicate that siphoned lakhs from unsuspecting victims. The trail first surfaced when authorities arrested businessman Surendra Prasad over suspicious cyber fraud transactions. Investigators discovered that Prasad’s firm, Pankaj Enterprises, had bank accounts linked to Pankaj Pandey’s personal mobile number, a clue that ultimately led to the unmasking of the racket.
Within just one week, nearly ₹19 lakh flowed through the tainted account, of which ₹17 lakh was withdrawn through a combination of cash pickups and hawala couriers. When raids commenced, police recovered ₹10 lakh in hard cash from the accused along with a staggering cache of weapons, financial documents, and cryptocurrency transaction records.
Cryptocurrency, Hawala, and a Parallel Economy
This was no petty fraud. According to Cyber DSP Abhinav Parashar, the arrested co-conspirator, Mohammed Javed of Ramna locality, acted as the syndicate’s hawala and crypto broker. Javed reportedly specialized in converting illicit funds into USDT (Tether) and other cryptocurrencies, making the trail harder to trace, and then reconverting it into clean cash.
Police say the operations were masterminded by Satyam Saurabh, the elusive kingpin who directed accomplices via secure messaging apps. Satyam’s aide, Dayashankar, coordinated laundering operations across Bihar and beyond. Dayashankar, still on the run, allegedly instructed Javed to liquidate large volumes of USDT during the raids to conceal evidence.
In coordinated searches spanning multiple locations, including Ambika Nagar, Meena Bazaar, and Ramna. Investigators seized:
- ₹10.3 lakh in cash
- A note-counting machine
- 14 cheque books, 11 bank cheques, and six passbooks
- 10 ATM cards
- Weapons including a rifle, pistol, 21 rounds of ammunition, and multiple magazines
- Laptops, CPUs, and mobile phones storing transaction records
- Pocket diaries chronicling crores of rupees in black money dealings
Fallout and the Expanding Investigation
The arrest of a uniformed paramilitary soldier in such an operation has sent ripples through law enforcement. Authorities now fear more insiders may have colluded in the racket, given the sophistication of laundering methods and the precise targeting of bank accounts.
According to police, Pankaj Pandey also manipulated accounts by convincing Surendra Prasad to register his own mobile number in the firm’s bank records, enabling seamless withdrawals. Meanwhile, six other suspects connected to this interstate cyber fraud have already been jailed, including individuals from Patna and West Champaran.
Investigators are combing through seized pocket diaries that reportedly document a ledger of crores in illicit transactions, as well as fresh names of collaborators across districts. The diaries and seized devices could become the linchpin in unravelling what officials fear may be a syndicate extending into bordering states and beyond India’s frontiers.
As authorities tighten the net, fugitive kingpin Satyam Saurabh remains at large, leaving open questions about how deep the betrayal ran, and how many more in uniform could be complicit in a sprawling criminal underworld hidden behind the veneer of public service.