SIA files chargesheet against two in narco-terrorism case

Srinagar, March 18

The Jammu and Kashmir State Investigation Agency (SIA) on Monday filed a charge-sheet against two people, including a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist, accused of operating a narco-terror financing module in the Union Territory, officials said.

Funds used to finance terror acts

• The state investigation agency said terror funds were used for furtherance of terror activities, including setting ablaze government buildings, residential houses of minorities, police personnel and the office of a political party, on the instruction of terrorist organisations
• One of the accused was arrested in September last year when he was transporting a consignment of heroin weighing 3.565 kg and other items. The value of the seized narcotics was over Rs 25 crore, the officials added

The charge-sheet was filed in the special-designated UA(P)A court under the NIA Act against Zaheed Ahmad Khoja and Zameer Ahmad Lone under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, they said here.

Lone, who hails from the Kashmir Valley, is an active terrorist of the LeT operating from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, the officials said. They said Khoja was arrested in September last year when he was transporting a consignment of heroin weighing 3.565 kg. The value of the seized narcotics was estimated to be more than Rs 25 crore, the officials added.

Khoja and Lone along with members of terrorist organisations had hatched a criminal conspiracy to raise funds by illegally smuggling and trafficking narcotics from across the border, the SIA said.

The proceeds from the sale of the drug were used to financially support terrorist acts and fund the terror ecosystem, the agency said.

In pursuance of the larger criminal conspiracy, Khoja and Lone, and their associates through conversations over encrypted messaging applications systematically planned spreading communal disharmony through terrorist acts targeted at minority communities in Kashmir, the SIA said.

“The terror funds were used for personal enrichment and for furtherance of terrorist acts, including setting ablaze government buildings, residential houses of minority communities and police personnel, and office of a political party, as directed by various terrorist organisations,” the agency said.