NIA quizzes SoBo bizman for his role in terror funding

Strap: Suspect is said to be connected to gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi, Goldy Brar and Khalistan ideologues Mumbai: For the last three days, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has been questioning a Mumbai resident for his alleged involvement in terror funding

Strap: Suspect is said to be connected to gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi, Goldy Brar and Khalistan ideologues

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Mumbai: For the last three days, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has been questioning a Mumbai resident for his alleged involvement in terror funding. The 35-year-old suspect is in the business of imitation jewellery and lives in a high-rise in Agripada, South Mumbai. He is allegedly connected to gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar.

This comes after NIA’s raids at 76 locations across the nation to bust known terrorist-gangster-drug smuggler nexus. The agency arrested six people on Thursday for their connection with Khalistan ideologues and associates of Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

The Mumbai resident and his father were on the agency’s radar for several months as they were allegedly involved in Hawala operation connected to the gang and their terror-related activities. When the officials reached the suspect’s place, they learnt that the father had died around eight months ago. The suspect’s father was also in the imitation jewellery business and used to bring the same from abroad, said an official.

The agency took the help of local police on Tuesday when they visited the suspect’s place for the raid, and a police team was deployed in the society. The agency questioned the suspect for almost six hours. Two mobile phones and other electronic devices were seized from him, said an official.

The agency summoned the suspect for further questioning and on Wednesday, in the agency’s office in south Mumbai, he was grilled for several hours with questions related to his business and bank transactions.

“Some of his bank transactions were suspicious and we have been verifying them before taking any legal action against him,” said an agency official on the condition of anonymity. The verification and questioning are still going on and some of the family members of the suspect are also being verified, added the official.

The raids were conducted in UP, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. A large cache of arms and ammunition along with ₹2.3 crore were seized on Tuesday.

The NIA investigations have so far revealed that many criminals, who were leading gangsters in India, had fled to countries such as Pakistan, Canada, Malaysia, Philippines and Australia. They were planning their terror and criminal acts from there and were in association with criminals lodged in jails in different states.

These groups were carrying out targetted killings and raising funds for their nefarious activities through smuggling of drugs and weapons, hawala and extortions. Further investigations are on to dismantle such terror networks and their funding and support infrastructure.