ATS detains engineer for funding ISIS

LOKMAT NEWS NETWORK

Nashik, Jan 24

The Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has arrested a youth from the city who is suspected of providing financial aid to the families of deceased members of the banned terrorist organisation the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). What is noteworthy is that the suspected youth is an engineer and he also owns some companies. This is the first case of someone providing financial aid to a terrorist organisation exposed in Nashik and police teams have been dispatched to trace more suspects in other states as well. ATS has claimed that a woman near the border of Syria is instructing him to deposit money into the accounts of some persons.

The suspect engineer has been identified as Hujef Abdul Aziz Sheikh (30, Emerald Residency, Tidke Colony Nashik). He was taken into custody on Tuesday night after the surveillance carried out by ATS and investigation into his dealings based on intelligence received by ATS on him, confirmed their suspicion. After this, he was brought to court in Nashik and he was given ATS custody for seven days.

During the investigation, important documents including seven mobile phones, three SIM cards, a laptop, a pen drive, and a passport were seized from him. He was found to have accounts in five nationalised banks. The transactions he made through these accounts were checked, and it was revealed from his mobile conversations that a woman Rabia alias Osama, who worked as an intermediary to provide financial support to the families of members of a banned terrorist organisation, instructed him to deposit the amounts of financial aid into certain accounts.

This aid was being delivered to the families through the organisation 'Battle of Baghuz', which was set up to help the families of dead terrorists of ISIS in 2019. For this purpose, after collecting funds from all over the country, Hujef deposited this amount from his accounts to the accounts of family members of ISIS members. Some suspicious transactions are also on the radar of ATS and the persons who are partners in Hujef's business are also going to be investigated.

He was being interrogated by the ATS for three days. But he did not give a satisfactory answer as to why he sent this amount. Apart from business transactions, the concerned woman was investigated by the ATS after suspicious amounts were sent to the account of the same woman from different banks. When the ATS team got the information that this woman is from Pakistan and she is supplying money to the families of terrorists from different places, ATS zeroed in on the operation.

Public pleader Ajay Misar demanded that the suspect be given 14-day ATS custody as there is a high possibility that many things will be revealed if these transactions are investigated. But the defense counsel claimed that the case is one of money laundering. The judge remanded the suspect to seven days of ATS custody. Adv Fazal Sayyad argued for the accused.

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Several trips abroad

A charge sheet of 28 pages was submitted in the court about the suspect's dealings. In it, the information on the transactions done by the suspect, his chats, along with information on his travels to Sri Lanka, Dubai, and Sharjah was given.