ED raids premises of former minister, others in narco-terror funding case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday conducted simultaneous searches at multiple locations in Jammu and Kashmir, including the premises of former minister Babu Singh, in connection with an ongoing narcotics-linked money laundering investigation, official sources said.

The searches, carried out under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), covered six premises in Srinagar and two in Jammu, officials confirmed.

The case is linked to a narcotics and hawala network uncovered by the Jammu and Kashmir Police in March 2022, when a man identified as Mohammad Shareef Shah was arrested while allegedly attempting to deliver Rs 6.9 lakh in hawala money from Kashmir to Jammu for Jatinder Singh alias Babu Singh.

According to ED officials, the funds were suspected to be intended for separatist and secessionist groups in Jammu to finance subversive activities. Investigations revealed an alleged nexus involving Saif Din, Farooq Ahmad Naikoo, and Mubashir Mushtaq Fafoo, who were reportedly part of a Pakistan-based narco-terror network funding terror operations in Jammu and Kashmir.

Officials said Naikoo was allegedly operating a narco-terror funding module, under which heroin smuggled from Pakistan was sold in India during 2021–22, and the proceeds — amounting to over Rs 2 crore — were deposited in local bank accounts in Srinagar. These funds were then transferred to accounts of Indian citizens working in Dubai, who acted as “mules” to conceal the origin of the money.

The “proceeds of crime,” officials added, were withdrawn and accumulated in Dubai and subsequently routed to Hizbul Mujahideen operatives based in Pakistan.

The Special Investigation Agency (SIA) had earlier filed a chargesheet against 12 accused, including the former minister, in the hawala money case. Further investigation is underway into the cross-border narcotics syndicate allegedly linked to terror funding.

Babu Singh was arrested in April 2022 after his associate, Mohammad Shareef Shah of Kokernag, was caught with hawala money in Jammu. In 2024, the SIA arrested two more persons, including a police constable, for their alleged involvement in the same syndicate.

The arrests of Constable Saif-ud-Din of Jammu and former Sarpanch Farooq Ahmad Jungal of Uri, Baramulla, brought the total number of accused in the case to 17, officials said.