Elite unit to combat terror financing

The first-ever such cell will be headed by an officer of the Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax), sources said. The unit will function as the “nodal office” between various investigative and enforcement agencies to deal exclusively with cases of terror financing and instances of money laundering for such activities.

According to sources, the cell will have a strength of eight officials, initially, and will be a part of the Internal Security-I division of the Home Ministry. “The cell will take up all cases related to terror funding in India and abroad. It will collate intelligence and information from all law enforcement agencies and coordinate with them,” a senior officer said.

Initially, the cell will liaise with agencies like the Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Income Tax Department, Enforcement Directorate, CBI and Directorate General of Customs and Central Excise Intelligence. Subsequently, it will scrutinise information collected from central police organisations and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).

The unit is expected to start functioning soon, sources said, adding that creation of such a special cell was felt necessary after these agencies chanced upon a number of cases having a direct bearing on the national security.