Terror funding case: NIA arrests Syed Salahuddin's son

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Thursday arrested second son of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) based Hizb-ul-Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin during a night raid at his residence in uptown Rambagh area of Srinagar.

NIA spokesperson ADGP Alok Mittal while confirming the arrest said the central probe agency sleuths along with local police and CRPF raided the house of Syed Shakeel Yousuf, son of Salahuddin early this morning.

He said Shakeel has been arrested in an alleged terror funding case. “The NIA had issued a summons earlier to him but he didn’t turn up. Our people went there with an arrest warrant and took him to Srinagar office. He is being brought to Delhi,” Mittal added.

The NIA alleges Shakeel used to receive funds through a US-based international wire transfer company from Aijaz Ahmad Bhat, another accused in the case who is absconding and based in Saudi Arabia.

The case, registered by the NIA in April 2011, relates to transfer of money from Pakistan to Jammu and Kashmir through hawala channels via Delhi, which the agency believed was used in funding militancy and secessionist activities

Last year in October, the NIA had arrested Shakeel’s brother Syed Shahid in a money laundering case. He is lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail since and was charge-sheeted in April this year. The NIA had claimed that Shahid had received about Rs 4.5 lakh so far through eight international wire transfers.

While Shahid was an employee of state Agriculture Department, Shakeel works as a lab technician at super-speciality hospital SKIMS in Srinagar. Following Shahid’s arrest, he was suspended from his job.

Mohammed Yusuf Shah alias Syed Salahuddin is the chief commander of J&K’s largest indigenous militant outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. He is also the chairman of United Jihad Council (UJC), an umbrella group of militant outfits operating in the valley.

For the last more than two decades Salahuddin is in Pakistan, where from he is running the militant activities in Kashmir. Last year, he was declared a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the US Department of State.