Fund flow from abroad: Salafist outfits under radar

After putting various Non Government Organisations (NGOs) under scanner for Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) violations, the enforcement agencies are now after a few Salafist organisations i

KOZHIKODE: After putting various Non Government Organisations (NGOs) under scanner for Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) violations, the enforcement agencies are now after a few Salafist organisations in Kerala which have been receiving huge funds from abroad. Intelligence wing, Financial Intelligence Unit and Enforcement Directorate have started the process of verifying the details of the accounts of the organisations in Kerala following information on diversion of fund for purposes other than religious.

“The Union Government has initiated a process to verify the fund utilisation by those religious organisations which have been receiving funds from abroad. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has given utmost priority to the process after fund diversion of Zakir Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation came to light,” said a senior intelligence officer. The National Investigation Agency (NIA), probing the missing case of 21 Kerala youth who reportedly left for Syria to join Islamic State, had found fund transactions between a few suspected organisations and Abdul Rasheed, who masterminded the journey to Syria.

“It is quite evident that a lot of fund is being used for propagating extremist ideologies in the state. Investigation has revealed that major Salafist wings in Middle East have successfully passed on millions to the organisations through generous financial payoffs and donations,” the officers said and added that the money was basically used for abetting religious conversions.

The agencies were correlating the details of the organisations by verifying the inputs they had collected from 68 IS supporters/sympathisers who were arrested so far in India. According to a MHA data, in 2016 alone, 50 IS sypathisers were arrested from the country with Maharashtra and Telangana topping the list with 11 each followed by Karnataka with seven, Kerala six and Uttarakhand four.

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