New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Sunday arrested Mohammad Aslam Wani, an alleged hawala dealer, in connection with a decade-old case pertaining to alleged hawala terror financing that involved separatist Shabir Shah.
Sources in the Central probe agency said Wani was arrested from Srinagar by the ED sleuths with the help of the Jammu & Kashmir police. The ED recently got a non-bailable warrant issued against him from a Delhi court. The agency also issued multiple summons for his appearance in the case, but he never made an appearance.
“The warrant has been executed and Wani will now be confronted with Mr Shah and others to take the probe forward,” sources said.
Mr Shah, in custody, was similarly picked up by ED from Srinagar on July 26. The ED action against the two was in pursuance of an August 2005 case, wherein the Delhi police’s special cell had arrested Wani, an alleged hawala dealer, who had claimed that he passed on '2.25 crore to Mr Shah.
In 2010, a Delhi court had cleared Wani of terror funding charges, but had convicted him under the Arms Act.
The ED had registered a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Mr Shah and Wani.
Wani was arrested allegedly with cash worth Rs 63 lakh, received through hawala from the West Asia and a large cache of ammunition on August 26, 2005.
During questioning, he told the police that Rs 50 lakh was to be delivered to Mr Shah and Rs 10 lakh to Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) area commander in Srinagar Abu Baqar and the rest was his (Wani) commission.
Wani, who hails from Srinagar, had claimed he delivered around '2.25 crore to Mr Shah and his kin in multiple instalments over the past year. As per sources, in this case, the ED wanted to investigate into the “proceeds of crime” of alleged terror financing.
