KOLKATA: Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials have got some crucial clues about the terror links of a Pakistani citizen arrested from Kolkata in connection with the multi-crore fake passport racket in West Bengal.
The ED got the clues from the WhatsApp group chats of the arrested accused, Azad Mallick.
Sources said the chats gave the investigating officials a clear idea of the individuals in neighbouring Bangladesh who received the money routed through hawala from Kolkata.
Based on the details available, the sources added, the investigating officials are trying to track whether the money routed through hawala to Bangladesh was used in terror funding or not.
On Thursday, ED also sought permission from the court to extend Azad's custody for another five days for further interrogation.
It is learnt that the mobile phones seized from Azad had over 20, 000 individual and group contacts in WhatsApp, with the activities and conversations in certain groups being quite suspicious.
Besides WhatsApp chats, the ED officials have also recovered some voice message records from these mobile phones, whose contents have strengthened suspicions of Azad's terror links.
Azad was arrested in April, and the documents seized from his possession revealed that he was a Bangladeshi citizen who was residing in India after arranging Indian identity documents, including an Indian passport, by furnishing fake documents.
Azad, the owner of Mullick Trading Corporation, was also operating a hawala racket from his residence in the city, besides being involved in a racket engaged in providing fake Indian passports for Bangladeshi infiltrators.
However, on April 29, the ED counsel informed a special court in Kolkata that during interrogation, Azad admitted that he was a resident of Pakistan, who first managed to arrange a Bangladeshi citizenship and subsequently arranged for Indian identity documents.
Mullick's name as a Pakistani citizen was Azad Hossain, which he changed to Ahammed Hossain Azad when he managed Bangladeshi citizenship through unfair means.
Finally, in the fake Indian passport, his name was mentioned as Azad Mullick.
During his arrest, two fake Electronic Voter ID Cards, multiple fake driving licenses, and four fake birth certificates were also seized by the investigating officials.
The ED had also frozen a bank account in his name with a deposit of Rs 2.62 crore.