The Enforcement Directorate laid an anti-terrorism crackdown on PFI properties worth Rs 56 crore on Friday. It attached 35 immovable properties linked to the outlawed group Popular Front of India. The aggregate value of the attached properties amounts to a whopping Rs 56.56 crore. The properties lay in the names of several trusts, firms, and individuals associated with PFI.
The ED said it attached properties worth through a statement on Friday, as part of a crackdown against the anti-terrorism crackdown on PFI properties worth Rs 56 crore. 19 properties were among the ones attached while additional 16 properties worth Rs 21.13 crores have also been seized. PFI is accused of using these properties for unlawful purposes, including terror financing.
The ED investigation alleged a conspiracy on the part of PFI office bearers and cadres for raising funds domestically as well as internationally, through banking channels, hawala networks, donations, and other illicit means. Funds so raised were allegedly utilized for the facilitation and financing of terrorist activities in India.
Anti-terrorism crackdown on PFI properties worth Rs 56 crore: Where was money transferred?
According to the ED, the ill-gotten money was deposited in 29 bank accounts spread across India. The money was reportedly spread across the Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir and Manipur states. The ED identified these funds worth Rs 94 crore as Proceeds of Crime.
The ED arrested 26 PFI members and cadres in the course of the investigation. Nine prosecution complaints were filed between February 2021 and May 2024. The money was allegedly collected posing as fake donors. Notably, ED exposed more than 13,000 active members of PFI working in Singapore and Gulf countries. PFI operates actively in the nations of Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
These DECs were tasked with raising funds to finance PFI’s activities. The DECs were given crore rupees as monetary targets. The foreign-collected funds were brought into the country through complex banking routes. Hawala networks, functioning clandestinely in the underground, also served to smooth out the provenance of the money.
Once transferred to India, the money was forwarded to the top leaders of PFI. According to ED, this money was used to sponsor terrorism and other illegal activities. PFI fundraiser was spread over various networks and countries.
ED is probing into the terror financing operations of PFI. This was the follow-up action in a spate of arrests and seizure in relation to outlawed activities related to PFI. PFI has been accused of conducting radical activities within India as well as inducing non-resident communities abroad.
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