11 arrested over money laundering through loan borrowers

Police have smashed a local criminal group suspected of luring loan borrowers into providing personal information to open puppet bank accounts for money laundering. The operation involved handling crime proceeds exceeding 70 million dollars with 11 people arrested.

During the operation, police seized telephone stored-value cards and loan documents. An account book detailing a large amount of victims' personal information was also seized from the home of one suspect. Police earlier discovered that illegal syndicates touted loan services that required no vetting on the internet as bait.

When borrowers were unable to repay their debts, the syndicates offered them a waiver on repayment in exchange for handing over their identity documents to open numerous puppet accounts for money laundering. Police earlier posed as loan applicants and, after gathering evidence, launched an operation spanning two days starting Monday. They then arrested 8 men and 3 women across multiple districts, aged between 19 and 43.

Investigations show the group has laundered over 70 million dollars.