Enforcement Directorate to confiscate Rs 55 lakh terror funds

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has got the court’s nod to confiscate Rs 55 lakh cash recovered from alleged Hizbul Mujahideen member Nasir Shafi Mir, who was arrested by the special cell of the Delhi police on February 3, 2006, making it the first successful case of seizure of terror funds in the country.

Mir, who was declared a proclaimed offender by a court earlier, had managed to procure bail in 2007 on health grounds from Delhi high court and later fled via Nepal, allegedly using a fake passport. He is still on the run. He was arrested in 2006, from here by the special cell of the Delhi police. The ED has called it as the first major action against terror funding in the country under the stringent provisions of money laundering laws where the onus is on the accused to prove himself innocent.

The ED, based on the police FIR, had registered a money laundering case against him in 2007. Besides Rs 55 lakh, arms and ammunition were also seized from Mir at the time of his arrest.

The ED, after provisionally attaching the said cash in 2013, had sought the permission of a special anti-money laundering court here to confiscate the money which had been lying in the custody of the Delhi police till now.

“At the request of the Enforcement Directorate, a special court in Delhi issued confiscation order in respect of Rs 55 lakh under the provisions of PMLA,” the agency said on Sunday.

Mir, who was reported to be closely associated with Hurriyat leaders, was subjected to extensive interrogation by central security agencies during which he is claimed to have spoken about his links with the separatist groups and banned terror outfit HM.

The Mirwaiz, in 2014, had said he knew Mir and his family but he had nothing to do with the case in which he was arrested. Mir’s disappearance from the country had raised eyebrows within the security establishment as it was suspected that some officials had facilitated his escape. According to the ED attachment order issued in December 2013, the cash was “proceeds of crime of terrorist funding and money laundering and hence stands attached”. The Delhi Police had filed a charge sheet against Mir in May 2006 for offences of “waging war against the State and terrorist financing” under various sections of IPC and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.