The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday attached 13 assets located in Jammu and Kashmir in a terror financing case against Pakistan-based extremist Syed Salahuddin. Salahuddin is the chief of the banned Hizbul Mujahideen outfit, as well as the United Jehad Council.
The properties, worth Rs 1.22 crore, were attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, PTI reported. The Enforcement Directorate said they belong to a person called Mohammad Shafi Shah, a resident of Bandipora, and six other residents of Jammu and Kashmir, who allegedly work for Hizbul Mujahideen.
The agency said it filed a case under the anti-money laundering act after taking cognisance of a charge sheet filed by the National Investigation Agency against Salahuddin, Shah and others under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
“Hizbul Mujahideen, the most active terror outfit in Kashmir, has been responsible for funding terrorist and secessionist activities in Jammu and Kashmir,” the agency said in a statement. “Headed by Syed Salahuddin, its self-styled commander based out of Rawalpindi in Pakistan, it funds terrorism on Indian soil through monies organised by a trust called Jammu and Kashmir Affectees Relief Trust in alleged connivance with Inter-Services Intelligence and other Pakistan-based entities.”
The Enforcement Directorate said its inquiry found that “terror funds” were being sent to India, and “illegally distributed to the next of kin of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists, active and dead”. It added that Mohammad Shafi Shah and three others have been imprisoned in Tihar Jail in New Delhi in connection with a terror funding case.
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