Special Task Force team with the four people who were arrested for being allegedly involved in a money-laundering racket in Patna on Friday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, Dec. 23: A Bhojpuri film actor and three engineers were arrested from a house at Ashok Nagar in Kankerbagh for suspected links with a West Asia-based money-laundering racket.

The Special Task Force (STF) personnel handed over their custody to the city police, who, in turn, would conduct further investigations into their modus operandi. Terror links cannot be ruled out, sources said.

The arrested persons were identified as Brajesh Srivastava, Wasim Akram, Rahul Kumar and Ashraf Ali, all residents of Gopalganj and Bettiah districts and aged between 23 and 25 years.

Srivastava plays negative roles in Bhojpuri films. The three others are diploma engineers. The trio studied in Bangalore.

“Total 21 ATM cards of different banks, a laptop, 20 SIM cards, several PAN cards, driving licences under different names and other documents have been recovered from their possession. The team also seized some United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Jordan currency,” said a senior STF officer. The arrested persons were being grilled till reports last came in.

Sources said the group’s prime objective was to open different bank accounts. “The seized driving licences and PAN cards bear different names but carry photographs of the group members. Interrogations have revealed that the arrested persons used to gather documents for opening bank accounts. They used to switch residence frequently. They never stayed at one place for more than a month probably to dodge the police or to gather additional documents as address proof needed to open new bank accounts,” inspector-general of police (IG), operations, Kumar Rajesh Chandra, who heads the STF, told The Telegraph.

Sources said the arrested persons used each SIM card just once. “The call details of each recovered SIM card would be checked. The group used to receive calls mostly from two men, Javed and Imam, and act according to their instructions. We are trying to track them down. The duo might be staying in some West Asian country, from where funds used to be remitted to the bank accounts here through Internet banking. The same then used to be distributed to certain people by hand or through account transfer,” another officer said.

“The group used to get Rs 1,000 for each transaction of Rs 1 lakh. This could be a part of a well-organised money-laundering racket or one to convert black money into white. The possibility of funding a terror outfit cannot be ruled out as well. Interrogations are on to find out details of the accounts from which the funds came and the men to whom the money was handed over,” the officer added.

In the past two months, more than five persons were nabbed from Purnea, Darbhanga and Madhubani districts for their alleged role in terrorist activities outside the state.