Mir Raza Ali, owner of the popular dessert shop Wafflix, whose body was found in Gulistan-e-Jauhar after he was allegedly kidnapped from PECHS. SCREENGRAB/ Youtube
KARACHI:
A six-month digital money trail could provide investigators with fresh clues in the case, as the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) has obtained detailed Binance and cryptocurrency records and is now decoding the data to trace the movement of suspected funds, The Express Tribune has learnt.
The data, comprising several pages of technical records, has been provided to the Judicial Commission investigating the case in a format similar to a call detail record (CDR).
Sources said such cryptocurrency data is generally received from abroad and analysed by the NCCIA, which has coding and forensic experts at its laboratories. The agency is expected to provide its analysis to the police within the next 24 to 36 hours. A soft copy of the data will also be shared with the relevant authorities.
According to sources, the investigation will focus on tracing the movement of funds through cryptocurrency wallets. Investigators can use transaction IDs and transaction hashes to locate corresponding records on a public blockchain.
The analysis can help establish which wallet the suspected funds originated from, where they were transferred and which other addresses received them. Investigators refer to this process as tracing the “flow of funds”.
While cryptocurrency transactions can offer a degree of anonymity, transactions on public blockchains leave a permanent digital record that can be traced using blockchain-analysis tools.
Law enforcement and financial institutions worldwide increasingly use blockchain analytics to investigate money laundering, fraud, stolen crypto assets and suspected financial networks.
Forensic test clears guard’s pistol
A forensic examination has found that a 30-bore shell recovered from the scene where Raza’s body was found did not match the pistol carried by a security guard, according to a report issued by the Forensic Division Sindh.
The forensic report, issued on August 10, found that the cartridge recovered from the crime scene did not match the two test shells submitted from pistol No LA-1197 under the Sindh Arms Act.
The report stated that the striker-pin and breech-face markings on the crime shell were different from those on the test shells, ruling out a match with the weapon tested by the forensic laboratory.
A police spokesperson said the shell was received by the Forensic Science Laboratory on August 7 through a police memo and that the forensic report was issued three days later on August 10. The spokesperson rejected reports suggesting that the shell had been submitted late or that it was not the one recovered from the crime scene. “The forensic report has been part of the case file from the beginning,” the spokesperson said, adding that it was also included in the initial supplementary charge sheet and documents submitted before the Judicial Commission investigating the case.
The forensic laboratory has also pointed to negligence by the relevant arms dealer and recommended legal action against him, according to the police spokesperson. He clarified that the shell recovered from the crime scene was personally submitted to the forensic laboratory by the IO. However, the final verification of the shell will be conducted after the recovery of the pistol allegedly used in the incident, the spokesperson added.
The police urged the media to verify information with relevant institutions before publishing reports about the sensitive case, warning that dissemination of unverified or misleading information could affect the investigation.
