A green communist Left Democratic Front (LDF) Councilor was arrested in a cryptocurrency fraud case in Kerala. The accused was identified as Ahammed Unais (28), the Karettiparamba West Councilor of Koduvally Municipality in Kozhikode district. Unais allegedly swindled Rs 47 Crore rupees.

LDF is an alliance of left-wing political parties in the state, and Unais belongs to a fringe outfit called the National Secular Conference (NSC). The party was founded by former disgruntled Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leaders. NSC was formed in early 2011 with the support of the communists to ease the stranglehold that IUML enjoys in Malabar.

The Hyderabad police registered a case against Unais for committing crores-related cryptocurrency fraud. A Hyderabad-based individual who lost Rs 47 lakh trading cryptocurrency on the Telegram app filed a complaint that led to the police operation. During the subsequent investigation, the police found that Unais was a Keralite.

On Saturday morning, a five-person Hyderabadi police team arrived in Koduvally and took Unais into custody at his residence with the help of Koduvally Police. Koduvally Police said that Unais was found to be involved in the case registered in Hyderabad, and he was arrested and taken to Hyderabad.

The New Indian Express reported that Unais was held for using his bank account to transfer lakhs of rupees in swindled money to another person. “More details are unavailable to us,” said Shaju C, SHO, Koduvally police station.

In a related internet fraud case, Firoz, a Muvattupuzha resident, was previously taken into custody by the Hyderabad police. During an investigation based on Firoz’s statement, the authorities learned about Unais.

According to the SHO, cyber fraud has been the subject of multiple complaints. The official said that an engineer had lost Rs 30 lakh and a teacher had lost Rs 22 lakh. According to the police, the cyber fraud case involved an interstate lobby.

Muvattupuzha and Koduvally are hubs of Islamic terrorist activities. Koduvally is infamous for its gold merchants, who deal in smuggled gold 24 hours a day. These shops are open 24 hours a day, and many greedy individuals have fallen prey to scamsters and gold snatchers.

Koduvally is strategically placed just 30 km from the Kozhikode International Airport and is the gateway to Wayanad and other states like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Several Muslim outfits control the lucrative hawala and gold smuggling operations. Funds thus received also finance terrorism.