NIA arrests man for raising funds for LeT

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday arrested a man accused of raising funds for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) through Hawala channels to sponsor terrorist activities in the country, officials said.

Javed (40) was arrested from Delhi on Sunday for his alleged role in funding LeT operative Sheikh Abdul Nayeem alias Sohel Khan who was held and chargesheeted earlier for criminal conspiracy to carry out subversive activities in the country, they said.

Javed was absconding since 2017.

The NIA officials stated that five accused in the case-- Nayeem, Bedar Bakht, Towseef Ahmad Malik, Dinesh Garg alias Ankit Garg and Adish Kumar Jain were arrested earlier.

The agency said four other accused identified as Amjed alias Rehan, Habib-ur-Rahman, Gul Nawaz, Mohmad Imran are absconding while Javed has been arrested.

The NIA investigation showed that Javed is a native of Khampur village in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh.

He is allegedly affiliated to proscribed terrorist organisation LeT and was involved in arranging funds through Hawala channels from Saudi Arabia to Muzaffarnagar in 2017 which were received by Nayeem, the official said.

The NIA probe further showed that the terror funds were used for carrying out recce in various parts of the country to recruit terrorists for the LeT and identify soft targets including foreign nationals and tourists.

The accused has been booked for criminal conspiracy and waging war against the country, the official said.