LUCKNOW: The Lucknow Zonal Office unit of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), on Thursday, carried out nationwide searches, raiding 13 locations across West Bengal, Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh under a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) probe linked to a terror funding and illegal infiltration network.
Based on an FIR registered by the UP Anti-Terror Squad (ATS), the case involves the facilitation of Rohingya and Bangladeshi infiltration through forged Indian IDs, and the routing of foreign funds via trusts, mule accounts and layered transactions.
As per sources, the central agency is specifically looking into the activities of a syndicate that operates through public charitable trusts registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), and these trusts received funds from certain UK-based entities.
The sources said that the 13 premises raided by the ED included Deoband in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh; Jamia Nagar in Delhi; Ballabhgarh in Faridabad district, Haryana; and South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas and Murshidabad in West Bengal under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) by the Lucknow Zonal Office of the agency.
The FIR lodged by the UP ATS in 2024, on which the action was initiated, was related to an organised syndicate allegedly involved in facilitating the illegal infiltration of Rohingya and Bangladeshi nationals into India, arranging forged Indian identity documents like Aadhaar, PAN and passports, apart from aiding their rehabilitation in various parts of the country.
The ATS probe had found a “deep-rooted” financial network involving certain charitable trusts and entities allegedly receiving substantial foreign contributions and diverting the same through multiple bank accounts, mule accounts and layered transactions to facilitate illegal activities, ATS sources said.
The ED suspected that funds were transferred to suspected individuals in small tranches of Rs 6,000, Rs 8,000 and Rs 10,000 to help them settle in India.
The ultimate utilisation of the laundered funds was directed towards the economic rehabilitation of illegal immigrants to anchor them permanently within India, sources said.
The ED also suspected that, in some of the border districts of West Bengal, one group was helping infiltrate illegal Rohingya and Bangladeshi nationals into India.
Another group was responsible for preparing all the documents for these illegal infiltrators, after which they were sent to other parts of India in search of livelihood or for other purposes, the sources said.
To generate permanent income for these infiltrators, the trust provided money or alternative arrangements, such as an e-rickshaw, jobs or cash benefits, the sources added.
