ED attaches 13 assets in J-K in terror funding probe against Pak-based terrorist Salahuddin

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Tuesday said it has attached over a dozen assets in Jammu and Kashmir in a terror financing case against Pakistan-based terrorist and chief of the globally banned Hizbul Mujahideen, Syed Salahuddin.

The central probe agency issued a provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach 13 properties, worth Rs 1.22 crore, in the state.

The ED said the properties belonged to Mohammad Shafi Shah, a resident of Bandipora, and six other residents of Jammu and Kashmir, who allegedly worked for the terror outfit.

The agency said it filed a criminal case of money laundering in this instance after taking cognisance of a National Investigating Agency (NIA) charge sheet filed against Salahuddin, Shah and others under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Action (UAPA) and other sections of the Indian Penal Code.

"Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, the most active terror outfit in Kashmir, has been responsible for funding terrorist and secessionist activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

"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 JKART (Jammu and Kashmir Affectees Relief Trust) in alleged connivance with the ISI and other Pakistan-based entities," the ED said in a statement.

It said the probe found that "terror funds" were being sent to India through the hawala -- illegal way of routing money by skirting banking channels, barter trade and human carriers.

"The funds are illegally distributed to the next of kin of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists, active and dead," it said.

The US government had in August, 2017 designated Hizbul Mujahideen as 'foreign terrorist organisation'.

Besides heading Hizbul Mujahideen, Salahuddin is the chairman of the United Jehad Council (UJC), a conglomerate of terrorist outfits operating in the Kashmir Valley.

The NIA had arrested Salahuddin's son Syed Shahid Yousuf in this case in 2017 and the J-K government had later suspended him from service as he was working in the state agriculture department.

Shah and three others are lodged in the Tihar jail in the national capital in connection with this terror funding case, the ED said.