Swooping down on few traders and alleged hawala dealers, the NIA on Wednesday carried out searches at 27 places in various parts of the Valley and Delhi and seized nearly Rs 2.20 crore in cash in raids relating to probe into terror-funding activities in the state.
During the operations, that began in the morning, houses and business establishments of those suspected of channelising funds to fuel secessionist and anti-India activities were searched, an NIA spokesman said in Delhi.
Raids Continue on Thursday
Continuing with its raids in various parts of the Valley, Jammu, Delhi and Gurgaon, on Thursday the NIA conducted searches at 11 locations.
These locations included the ancestral residence of GN Sumji, a leader of the pro-Pakistan faction of the Hurriyat Conference, officials said. During the searches, FDs worth over Rs 1 crore, and incriminating material, suspect financial records,property-related documents were also seized.
.This is for the first time the National Investigation Agency has made inroads into South Kashmir, which is considered as a hub of militant activities.
The NIA raided the residence of prominent separatist Shia leader Aga Syed Hussain Badgami, who is also part of Syed Ali Shah Geelani-headed faction of the Hurriyat Conference. Raid were also conducted at a place which belonged to Abdul Razak, a close aide of separatist Shabir Shah.
According to ANI's report, the NIA sleuths seized three arms -- a pistol, a double-barrel gun and a 315 bore rifle from there, officials said.
Razak has claimed the arms were licensed but has not been able to provide any documents so far.
The chartered accountants of businessman Zahoor Watali in Delhi and Gurgaon were also among those raided.
The NIA (is) doing (its) duty, it is in national interest, no one should object. No one should mix it with politicsKiren Rijiju on raids over terror funding
Diaries, Mobiles, Laptops Found
Various digital devices including laptops, mobile phones and hard drives have also been seized during the searches.
Diaries pertaining to contacts of hawala operators/traders, ledger books containing accounts of cross-border LOC trade of various trading companies have been recovered. Some details of bank accounts of Jammu and Kashmir were also recovered.
Travel documents of some entities indicating their visits to the UAE have also been recovered and some of the suspects were being questioned about the recoveries made from them.
Curious Case of Californian Almonds
During its probe, the NIA found that after clothes and 'dupattas', California Almonds has emerged as the new product in cross-LoC trade in Jammu and Kashmir that is being used a mode of terror-funding.
According to the cross-LoC trade agreement between India and Pakistan, products grown in both sides of Jammu and Kashmir will be exchanged under barter system. The products included 'badam giri' that is grown in parts of Pakistanoccupied-Kashmir (PoK).
The traders from PoK were sending and receiving California Almonds and it is alleged that the money was used for funding of terror groups in the state.
The NIA, in its FIR, had alleged that there was a large scale transfer of funds from Pakistan to India through the import of California Almonds (badam giri) via the cross-LoC trade mechanism through the trade facilitation centres located at Salamabad and Chakkan-da-Bagh.
- NIA officials raid 11 locations across Srinagar and Delhi on Wednesday morning
- Laptops, mobile phones and hard drives seized during the searches
- Raids conducted on traders allegedly engaged in hawala operations, using money to fund terror in J&K
- An estimated five traders were raided by NIA officials in old Delhi
- NIA arrested two persons, including a photo-journalist yesterday, who allegedly indulged in stone pelting and incited violence
- These raids are part of an NIA probe in a 30 May case, in which the leader of Pakistan-based Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hafiz Saeed, was named as an accused