CIK detains 22 across Valley in mule bank accounts probe
The Counter Intelligence Kashmir (CIK) wing of the Jammu and Kashmir Police on Wednesday conducted simultaneous searches at 22 locations across the Valley and detained 22 individuals for questioning as part of a crackdown on what it described as an “extensive criminal network operating mule bank accounts to launder proceeds of cyber frauds, illegal online gaming, betting rackets and other unlawful activities”.
In a statement, the CIK termed the operation a “decisive blow to organised cybercrime and its sinister linkage with terror financing”.
The wing said that acting on credible and specific intelligence inputs, it registered Case No. 06/2025 at Police Station Counter Intelligence Kashmir, exposing a “sophisticated and well-entrenched financial crime syndicate that posed a serious threat to national economic security and digital safety”.
During the preliminary investigation, 22 suspects operating within the Kashmir Division were identified. After obtaining search warrants from the Special NIA Court, Srinagar, the CIK carried out simultaneous searches at 22 locations — 17 in Srinagar district, three in Budgam, and one each in Shopian and Kulgam districts.
“The searches resulted in the seizure of substantial incriminating material, including digital devices and financial records critical to the investigation,” the statement said.
The CIK said that 22 individuals have so far “been detained for questioning to establish their precise roles and linkages with cyber frauds, illegal online gaming, betting platforms and suspicious financial transactions”.
“The investigation is at a nascent stage and the evidence collected is expected to open floodgates in identifying a much wider network, both within the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and across other parts of the country,” it added.
According to the CIK, investigations have so far “exposed a carefully orchestrated conspiracy in which accused persons, in active connivance with local and outside operatives, exploited bank accounts of innocent, vulnerable and economically weak individuals, converting them into ‘mule accounts’”.
A mule account, it explained, is a bank or digital payment account used by criminals to receive, transfer and camouflage illegally obtained money, with the account holder known as a money mule.
“Mule accounts are a critical component of cyber-enabled crimes, facilitating the layering stage of money laundering by distancing the actual criminals from the victim and law-enforcement agencies,” the CIK said.
