Ex-minister Jatinder Singh’s aide arrested from Baramulla
Jatinder Singh alias Babu Singh of Kathua was arrested for allegedly receiving hawala money to activate secessionist activities in Jammu region last year.
The state investigation on Saturday arrested a narcotics smuggler Mohammad Sharief Chechi, a close aide of former minister Jatinder Singh, from Baramulla.
Jatinder Singh alias Babu Singh of Kathua was arrested for allegedly receiving hawala money to activate secessionist activities in Jammu region last year.
“The accused was wanted in narco-terror funding case registered at Gandhi Nagar police station and was arrested by SIA Jammu from Uri,” said an official statement.
Ever since the alleged involvement of the former minister was unearthed last year, several investigators were simultaneously perusing multiple leads crisscrossing terror financing modules, narcotics syndicates and separatist networks, read the statement
Initially, Mohammad Shareef Shah was arrested along with narco-terror money meant to fuel subversive activities in Jammu, it added.
Later, the case was transferred to SIA Jammu for investigation. During investigation, it came to the fore that there was a well-organized drug syndicate, including Mohammad Sharief Chechi, Mohammad Rafiq Najar and Farooq Ahmad Naikoo operating from Dubai and others who were pushing narcotics into the Indian territory for generating funds to fuel subversive activities in the region, the statement said.
Police added that these men used banking channels for giving a cover to the proceeds of narcotics for funding terrorism in the region.
Talking about Chechi’s modus operandi, police said that he used to collect narcotics from across Line of Control and peddled them to generate money for terror funding.
Investigation revealed that the syndicate was also smuggling arms and explosives.
In April 2022, a fast track court had granted five-day police custody of former minister Jatinder Singh alias Babu Singh and Mohammad Shareef Shah in the alleged Hawala racket. Shareef Shah was arrested last year from Gandhi Nagar and ₹6.9 lakh was recovered from his possession.
During interrogation Shah had allegedly disclosed that he was tasked by former minister Singh to collect money from one Omer at Srinagar.
Shareef Shah had revealed names of his local and foreign associates including Javed and Khatib, residents of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Farooq Khan of Toronto, Canada.
