Terror takes hawala route to J&K

Money sent from Pak via hawala operators in Saudi, UAE, Bangla: NIA

Majority of funds pumped into the Kashmir Valley for subversive activities originated from Pakistan and then routed to India through a complex web of hawala operators in Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bangladesh, investigations into terror funding in the Valley being carried out by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has revealed.

This is the first time that any Central agency is conducting a detailed probe into funding of terror activities ever since militancy erupted in the Valley in 1990s. In its FIR lodged, the NIA has already named Jamaat-udDawa chief Hafiz Saeed as one of the main accused.

The NIA is also being assisted by the Central intelligence agencies in its probe. Sources claimed that most of the funds were generated by Hafiz Saeed which were then routed in small amounts through several hawala operators into India. Most of these operators in the country are said to be operating out of Delhi, Gurgaon, Sonepat and Jammu. The NIA had carried out extensive raids in these cities last weekend.

In an attempt to cover the money trail hawala operators in India, the money was further divided into even smaller amounts and sent to a number of other dealers, sources added. “This helped avoid any suspicion as a huge amount being sent to the Valley would have attracted attention,” an investigating official said.

In an attempt to cover their tracks, these hawala dealers took extreme precaution ensuring that no records of money being sent to the Valley were maintained and most transactions were noted down on a “kachi parchi” or temporary papers slips which were destroyed immediately after money changed hands to next operator. Thus, sources added, the NIA and intelligence agencies were finding it difficult to link the money trail directly to the separatist leaders in the Valley. Some of these separatists have already been questioned by the NIA.

During its raids, the NIA though seized some mobile phones, laptops, computers and pen drives which have been sent for a detailed forensic examination. “We are waiting for the report to see if any record of the money trail to the separatists was saved in these devices. But the possibility seems to be remote as it seems the hawala operators were specifically instructed to destroy all records,” the official added.

Another unique modus operandi the investigators zeroed down on was through cross-border trade between India and Pakistan across the Line of Control. It has been revealed that most of the goods coming into the country were under invoiced. This was done to ensure that remaining balance, between actual price and under invoicing, was paid to the separatists. The NIA has also raided some businessmen in Jammu in this connection.

Similarly, good being sent to Pakistan were over invoiced so that the balance of the higher amount of goods was routed back into the country through the hawala network and in turn used for terror activities. It is suspected that money apart from being paid to outfits like Hizbul Mujahideen and Dukhtaran-e-Milat, both of whom have been named in the FIR, was also routed to stone pelters and other agitators.