New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency has seized Rs 36.34 crore of demonetised banknotes in connection with its ongoing investigations into a terror funding case in the Kashmir Valley, and arrested nine persons over the seizure here on Tuesday.
Six persons were intercepted by an NIA team in New Delhi’s Connaught Place area on Monday as they were carrying 28 cartons filled with demonetised Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes in four vehicles, an NIA spokesman said. They were brought to the NIA headquarters for questioning, he added, saying Rs 36.34 crore in demonetised notes was seized from them. Later, three other members of the gang were also apprehended.
“After initial questioning, nine people were arrested on Tuesday in the J&K terror funding case and they will be produced in a special NIA court on Wednesday,” an official said. While some of the accused are residents of Delhi, the others hail from Mumbai and J&K.
The spokesman said the NIA had got a lead about their activities while investigating a case on the financing of terror activities in the Kashmir Valley.
During the probe, it emerged that people and entities linked to separatists and terrorists were still in possession of a significant amount of demonetised currency notes that could not be converted into new ones, he said. “Surveillance was mounted on such persons and entities. This led to unearthing of a conspiracy wherein a gang of such persons were making an attempt to convert this demonetised money,” the official said. Earlier this year, the NIA had registered a case relating to the funding of terror and other subversive activities in the Valley through hawala channels, where money was coming in from Pakistan and some Gulf countries.
