Karachi begins search for wives of IS affiliates for funding group

The Karachi police has started a search for a group of women, whose husbands are suspected to be affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) and have conducted terror attacks in the city.

The Karachi police has started a search for a group of women, whose husbands are suspected to be affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) and have conducted terror attacks in the city. The women are part of a wing that is mainly responsible for generating funds for the terror group, says a report in a local newspaper.

Though there are around a dozen women in this group, six of them were particularly active in collecting funds from different parts of the city. (AFP File Photo)

After collecting money for terror operations, reported The Express Tribune, the women would give it to the male members of the group, who then passed it on to their head honchos.

“They (the women) sent darkhwasts [requests] to well-off women, seeking donations for the IS by using the name of (Faith Academy) school,” explained an official of the counter-terrorism department (CTD). “After collecting the money, they used to hand it over to the male wing of the outfit,” he added. “Then Adil Butt, the recently-arrested CEO of a local college, used to hand over the funds to a person who would use the money to buy weapons and explosives.”

Earlier this week, Sindh province counter-terrorism chief Raja Umar Khattab announced the uncovering of a network of women, which was tasked by militants to arrange the marriages of their operatives and raise funds for their operations.

Though there are around a dozen women in this group, six of them were particularly active in collecting funds from different parts of the city. Three of them are accused of abetting the Safoora bus carnage in May 2015, in which over 40 members of the Ismaili community were killed.