NIA raids residences of Mirwaiz, Yasin Malik
Case relates to funds ‘received’ by them from Pakistan through hawala channels: Officials
PROPERTY PAPERS, FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS RECEIPTS, BANK ACCOUNT DETAILS RECOVERED
SRINAGAR: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday carried out searches at seven locations, including on the premises of separatists like Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, in a terror funding case, officials said.
Local police and CRPF personnel cordoned off the areas before NIA sleuths started the searches at several places in the city simultaneously. The team, assisted by police and CRPF, was headed by senior officers of NIA.
Among those whose houses were searched are Naseem Geelani, son of hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, JKLF chairman Yaseen Malik, JKDFP president Shabir Shah, Tehreek-e-hurriyat chairman Ashraf Sehrai and JKSM chairman Zaffar Akbar Bhat, APHC general secretary Masarat Alam
The case relates to funds allegedly received by the separatist from Pakistan through hawala channels, the officials added. As per sources, the team spend around four to five hours at Yasin Malik’s residence and seized books, a laptop and a mobile phone. The leader’s family blamed NIA for ransacking their household during the raid
“During the searches, NIA teams recovered incriminating documents including property papers, financial transactions receipts and bank account details. Electronic devices including laptops, e-tablets, mobile phones, pen drives, communication system and DVRS were also seized during the searches,” the NIA spokesperson said.
Besides these, the house of Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was also raided
“Significantly, letter heads of different terrorist organisations as well as documents relating to recommendations for visa for admission in Pakistan Educational Institutions were found. A high-tech internet communication setup was also recovered from the residence of Mirwaiz Umer Farooq,” he said.
Malik has been in detention since Friday while Shabir Shah is in Delhi’s Tihar jail since July 2017.
The NIA had questioned two maternal uncles of the Mirwaiz — Maulvi Manzoor and Maulvi Shafat — and his aides last year. Both of them are retired senior government officers.
The NIA probe seeks to identify the chain of players behind the funding of terrorist activities, including those who pelted stones on security forces, burnt down schools and damaged government establishments.
It was learnt that some people gathered outside the house of separatist leader and pelted stones on police and the NIA officials when they were leaving Maisuma area. This is the first time when a NIA team has been pelted with stones during raids in the Valley. Meanwhile, Joint Resistance Leadership has called for a two-day strike against “wide spread raids of NIA against resistance leadership and extensive spree of arrests in Valley”.