Kashmir based trust JKART distributed Hawala cash from Pakistan: ED

Funding of terror activities on Indian soil unearthed in 2011 was organised by a trust named Jammu and Kashmir Affectees Relief Trust (JKART) that was operating in connivance with Pakistan and its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and the funds were sent to India through Hawala channel, barter traders and human carriers.

The revelation comes after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a chargesheet or prosecution complaint against 12 terrorists in the nine year old terror funding case involving Hizb-ul-Mujahideen -- the most active terrorist outfit in Jammu and Kashmir.

The ED investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) revealed that Hizb-ul-Mujahideen 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 is also revealed that terror funds were sent to India through Hawala channel, barter traders and human carriers.

"The funds were further distributed through Hawala, human carriers and banking channels to the next of kin of active as well as dead Hizb-ul-Mujahideen terrorists," the chargesheet mentions.

Mohammad Shafi Shah, Talib Lali, Mohd. Yusuf Shah, Gulam Nabi Khan, Umer Farooq Shera, Manzoor Ahmed Dar, Zaffar Hussain Bhat, Nazir Ahmad Dar, Abdul Majeed Sofi, Mubarak Shah, Muzaffar Ahmad Dar and Mushtaq Ahmad Lone have been named in the ED chargesheet filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, before the special judge, Patiala House Court, New Delhi.

Mohammad Shafi Shah, Talib Lali, Muzaffar Ahmad Dar and Mushtaq Ahmad Lone were the masterminds behind the distribution of funds, the ED chargesheet says.

After identification of the proceeds of crime involved in money laundering, 13 properties belonging to seven terrorists totalling to Rs 1.22 crore were attached under PMLA by the ED which requested the court to award punishment to all the accused for the commission of offence under PMLA.

The ED also requested the court for confiscation of the properties that have been provisionally attached.

The agency initiated investigation under PMLA based on the October 25, 2011 case registered by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and chargesheet filed by the anti-terror agency against all the accused under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 and other sections of Indian Penal Code.

Mohammad Shafi Shah and his associates were involved in the execution of sensational blasts in Jammu and Kashmir, and huge quantities of arms, ammunition and explosives were recovered from them, the ED said.

The NIA had in 2011 arrested a number of persons, including Ghulam Mohd Bhat, with Rs 21.2 lakh, and Syed Shahid Yusuf, son of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin.

The NIA had also registered two other cases related to terror funding -- one in November 2011, and another in May 2017.

It had filed a chargesheet against 10 people including Salahuddin in the April 2011 case.