The Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) Jammu sub-zonal office is currently conducting searches at six premises across Jammu (two premises) and Kashmir (four premises) in connection with a narco-terror funding investigation.
The operations also cover the residential premises of Jatinder Singh, alias Babu Singh, a former MLA and minister, located in Kathua.
According to the agency, one Mohd Shareef Shah was apprehended by police on March 30, 2022, while attempting to deliver Rs. 6.9 lakhs in hawala money from Kashmir to Jammu to Jatinder Singh. The funds were intended to finance separatist and secessionist groups in Jammu to carry out subversive activities.
Further investigations to ascertain forward and backward linkages revealed an entire nexus involving accused individuals Saif Din, Farooq Ahmed Naikoo, Mubashir Mushtaq Fafoo, and others. This network included cross-border, Pakistan-based operatives running a narco-terror module to fund subversive activities.
“Through analysis of relevant bank accounts, it was found that the accused Farooq Ahmad Naikoo orchestrated a narco-terror funding network. Heroin smuggled from Pakistan was sold in India during 2021-22, and the cash proceeds from these sales—over Rs. 2 crore—were deposited into local bank accounts in Srinagar during the same period,” said an ED official.
Subsequently, these funds were transferred to the bank accounts of Indian citizens working in Dubai, who acted as mule endpoints to obscure the origin of the money. The proceeds of crime, withdrawn and accumulated in Dubai, were further routed to Hizb-ul-Mujahideen terrorists operating from Pakistan.
Further investigation into the matter is ongoing.