SRINAGAR: Terror group Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Syed Salahuddin’s son was arrested this morning in Srinagar by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Syed Shakeel Yousuf, accused in a 2011 case of terror funding, was arrested after a raid at the city’s Rambagh area.
Shakeel is a laboratory technician at a prestigious government hospital, the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, said a police officer.
He was allegedly receiving money from his father, a globally wanted terrorist.
The case, registered by the NIA in 2011, relates to the transfer of money from Pakistan to Jammu and Kashmir through illegal channels via Delhi. The agency believes the money was used in funding terrorism and secessionist activities.
The NIA team, along with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and local police caught Shakeel, the second son of Syed Salahuddin.
Another son of the Hizbul chief, Syed Shahid Yousuf, was arrested in June.
Shahid Yousuf was working with the Jammu and Kashmir agricultural department when he was arrested. He was placed under suspension by the department.
The NIA alleged that Shakeel received funds through a US-based international wire transfer company from Aijaz Ahmed Bhat, another accused who is missing and is believed to be in Saudi Arabia.
Shakeel was “one of several Indian contacts” of Bhat, who had been in telephonic contact with him for receiving money transfer codes, said an official.
The NIA has so far filed charges against six people, including GM Bhat, a close aide of separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mohammed Siddiq Ganai, Ghulam Jeelani Liloo and Farooq Ahmed Dagga.
All four are in judicial custody.
Two others — Mohammed Maqbool Pandit and Bhat — were also chargesheeted by the NIA but are missing. An Interpol Red Corner notice has been issued against them.
Syed Salahuddin was declared a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the US Department of State.
Besides heading Hizbul Mujahideen, he is the chairman of the United Jehad Council (UJC), a conglomerate of terrorist outfits operating in the Kashmir valley.
The NIA has registered two others cases related to terror funding — one in November 2011 and the other in May this year.
The agency had filed a charge sheet against 10 people, including Syed Salahuddin, in the April 2011 case.
In the recent case, the NIA arrested 10 people, including some close relatives and aides of Geelani.