New Delhi: In the first such case, four
traders engaged in business across the Line of Control in
Jammu and Kashmir have been booked by Enforcement Directorate
in connection with alleged hawala racket for Lashker-e-Taiba
terror outfit.
Cracking down on financial terror, ED, which had sent one
of its senior officers to the Valley for reviewing hawala
cases, decided to take up the investigation under Prevention
of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), official sources said here.
Jammu and Kashmir Police had busted a hawala racket in
2009 involving traders and businessmen in Punjab and Jammu who
allegedly channelised funds to Lashker terrorists in the
Kashmir Valley and used to get heavy percentage in return.
This is the first case taken up by ED after the cross-LoC
trade began in October 2008.
The sources said terror groups were taking advantage of
the absence of legal banking facilities for trade across the
Line of Control which is based on a barter system.
Police had arrested Mushtaq Ahmad, a Budgam resident and
businessman, when he was handing over Rs 10 lakh to an over-
ground worker, identified as Abdullah, who was also arrested.
According to the modus operandi, a Jammu-based
businessman Suraj Singh and a Kashmiri trader from Kulgam set
up companies which would receive goods from across the LoC via
the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road and Chakada Bagh in Poonch.
These goods were sent to two Amritsar-based businessmen
identified as Vipin Kumar and Sanjeev.
PTI
