Terror funding: NIA attaches 2 assets of Salahudeen’s sons

“The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday attached two properties of the sons of designated terrorist Syed Mohammed Yusuf Shah @ Syed Salahudeen, the self-styled supreme commander of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) and chairman of United Jihad Council (UJC),” the NIA said in a statement.

Both Shahid Yusuf and Syed Ahmed Shakeel are lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail since their arrest in October 2017 and August 2018, respectively. They were chargesheeted on April 20, 2018 and November 20, 2018, respectively. They face charges of receiving funds from abroad from associates of their father and overground workers of Hizbul Mujahideen.

Salahudeen, who fled to Pakistan in 1993, was designated as an individual terrorist by India in October 2020. He continues to operate from Pakistan, from where he is instructing Hizbul Mujahideen militants as well as activists of UJC, also known as Muttahida Jihad Council (MJC), which is a conglomerate of around 13 Pakistan-based Kashmir-centric terror outfits.

“Besides instigating and operationalising militant activities in India, primarily in Kashmir valley, Syed Salahudeen has been raising funds and routing finances to India through trade routes, hawala channels, and international money transfer channels for furthering the terrorist activities of HM cadres,” the NIA statement said.

According to NIA, the agency launched investigations in November 2011 into “the criminal conspiracy to raise/collect/provide funds to commit terrorist acts and distribute funds among the terror groups and their sympathizers in Jammu and Kashmir for the purpose of committing terrorist acts”.

The Special Cell of Delhi Police had initially registered a case in January 2011. The NIA subsequently took over the case. Chargesheets as well as supplementary chargesheets were filed against eight accused in the case.