LUCKNOW: UP Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) unearthed a terror funding racket by arresting four persons and recovering Indian and Nepali currency from their possession in Lakhimpur Kheri on Friday.
The money was being brought to India from Nepal through Lakhimpur Kheri which shares a porous border with neighbouring Nepal. Besides, the ATS sleuths also recovered smartphones from the four accused.
Of the four persons arrested on Friday, two belonged to Bareilly and remaining two to Kheri’s Tikunia area. According to UP DGP OP Singh, all the four persons used to receive Nepali currency credited into Nepali banks by the terror handlers in other countries including Pakistan, and they would get it converted into Indian currency in Lakhimpur Kheri.
The money thus converted into Indian currency, used to be sent to different parts of the country for carrying out terror activities, said the DGP.
Interacting with media persons, OP Singh claimed that ATS had the inputs about elements who were allegedly involved in bringing money from Nepal illegally to push to terror activities in India.
The ATS had the specific information that a huge amount of money would be ferried from Nepal to India on October 10.
On the basis of the information, a joint team of UP ATS and district police of Lakhimpur Kheri rounded up Umed Ali and Samir Salmani of Bareilly along with Sanjay Agarwal and Ejaz Ali of Lakhimpur Kheri.
The police team recovered Rs 2 lakh cash in Indian currency from Umed Ali, Rs 1.50 lakh from Samir Salmani, Rs 1 lakh from Ejaz Ali and Rs 1.35 lakh cash in Nepali currency from Sanjay Agarwal, said the DGP.
Sanjay Agarwal was a crucial link in the racket as he used to manage the conversion of Nepali currency into Indian in Lakhimpur Kheri after receiving it stealthily from the neighbouring country.
The DPG also claimed that after the initial rounds of interrogation, the four arrested by the ATS disclosed that they were operating on the directives of Mumtaz, Fahim, Sirajuddin and Sadakat and that they used to get 6 per cent commission while getting the foreign currency exchanged.
The culprits also revealed that after conversion into Indian currency, the money used to be handed over to Fahim and Sadakat who belonged to Bareilly and they used to take it to Delhi.