Srinagar, Feb 02: The State Investigation Agency (SIA) on Friday raided five locations in Kashmir and Delhi in connection with investigation of a terror funding case.
A police spokesman said SIA’s special teams conducted raids at two locations including Saidapora Eidgah and Ahmadnagar area of Srinagar and three places at New Delhi.
“The raids were conducted on the strength of a search warrant issued by the Special Designated UAPA Court Srinagar to gather evidence relevant to the case,” he said.
The spokesman said that during the search operation incriminating material in the shape of bank documents, property documents, mobile phones, digital devices, SIM cards etc relevant to the investigation were seized which will be analyzed for further investigation.
“This case pertains to illegal raising, layering, mixing and laundering of illegal proceeds of crime by the accused persons which subsequently is suspected to have been used in unlawful activities including secessionism and terrorism,” the spokesman said.
He said the case was registered in police station SIA Kashmir on the basis of an enquiry. The enquiry revealed that funds to the tune of several crores of rupees had been raised and laundered in a short span of time.
“These transactions were primarily cash infused thereby institutionalising suspected ill-gotten gains into the banking system in a bid to establish a criminal-terror network syndicate,” he said.
Pertinently this was the second round of searches in this case. Earlier SIA had raided 32 locations in Delhi and Kashmir valley, it said.
The case is under investigation at SIA Kashmir which is resilient and determined in targeting the financial networks of terror outfits with an aim to destroy its ecosystem and support structure completely, it added.
Another police official said that over the past two years, the agency has registered 45 cases and taken over an additional 12 cases from other police stations in J&K for further investigation.
“We have successfully charged 31 cases, leading to the arrest and prosecution of 99 individuals involved in various acts of terrorism, espionage, terror financing, narco-terrorism, and minority killings,” he said.
The official said that SIA has also made important breakthroughs, exposing the methods and larger criminal conspiracies behind financing terrorism through narcotics proceeds and cryptocurrencies.
“Additionally, the agency has played a crucial role in investigating cases related to the misuse of SIM cards for unlawful activities, revealing vulnerabilities in the SIM issuance process,” he added.
