ED attaches Rs 3L terror funds of LeT cadre in Kashmir

The ED today said it has attached Rs 3 lakh cash of alleged terror funds in connection with its money laundering probe against terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba(LeT) which operates in the Kashmir Valley.

The central probe agency said that it attached the cash, in Indian currency, after it was found that the money was the "proceeds of crime" of terrorism and that it was to be delivered to hardcore militant Mohd Hussain Dar alias Raju by his associate Abdul Hamid Lone.

"The attached amount was meant for militant activities," the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said in a statement.

The agency had registered a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on a December 2009 FIR registered by the Sopore police in Jammu and Kashmir.

The ED said that the police had recovered and seized the Rs 3 lakh from Manzoor Ahmed Shaikh's Sopore-based bakery during a search operation.

The operation was launched on specific information that certain militants were assembling there, the agency said.

"The said amount seized and recovered from the bakery shop was to be delivered to Dar," the ED said.

It said that an equivalent amount of this fund was to be handed over to the brother of Lone who was a militant operating from the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK).

The agency said Lone, during questioning, had admitted to the ED that his younger brother Abdul Majeed Lone had left India 25 years ago and was settled in Pakistan's Pindi area.

"During investigation, Lone claimed that the seized amount was related to his fruit business, but he could not produce any documents in this regard.

"The accused persons did not submit any reply to the queries raised during investigation with regard to purpose of handing over the same to Dar at the bakery," it said.