Hawala racket busted, two arrested
Rs1.5 lakh recovered
Shariq Majeed
Tribune News Service

Rajouri, March 7
In a major success the police has unearthed a hawala racket reportedly supplying money to Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operatives in Kandi and Buddal areas here late last night. However, citing technical reasons, the police has refused to share much details about the arrests of the persons.

Police sources said on specific information about the transaction of the hawala money, the special police team headed by DSP (operations) Farooq Qaisar conducted series of raids in Kandi area and arrested Zulfikar of Karag, a Rehber Taleem teacher and brother of a slain Hizbul Mujahideen militant Abdul Qayoom, who died in July last year, and Muhammad Qadir of Larkuti, from Karamat Hussain’s shop, son of Muneer Hussain of Khadyoon in Kandi, while they were purchasing shoes and other food items for militants operating in the area.

“The police team also recovered Rs 1.5 lakh of hawala money from the possession of the arrested persons. The money was to be handed over to LeT commander Saqib (operating in Kandi and Buddal areas)”, sources said.

Reliable sources in the Police Department disclosed that following the arrest of the duo, the police team shifted them to the district headquarters where the accused were being interrogated. The duo had reportedly made several disclosures during their interrogation and had named some more persons supplying money to the militants through the hawala channel, sources added.

The sources said the police arrested Karamat Hussain for reportedly supplying shoes and other eatables to the arrested persons to be supplied to the LeT militants. The police had also taken into custody the driver of a revenue officer posted in Buddal for questioning, they added.

Confirming the arrests of two persons for their alleged involvement in the hawala network, a police officer among the interrogators told The Tribune that the arrested persons were being interrogated and at this time and it was not proper to divulge much detail as we were awaiting some vital clues from them for unearthing a major hawala racket.”

“We have also recovered some SIM cards from the arrested persons and are in the process of verifying their contacts with other persons involved in the hawala network”, he added.

A senior police officer said the militants operating in the Kandi and Buddal areas were running short of money and arms for carrying subversive operations.