Pak terror financing: ED arrests Shabir Shah's aid Aslam Wani

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Sunday arrested Mohammad Aslam Wani, an alleged hawala dealer, in connection with its about-a-decade-old money laundering case against Kashmiri separatist Shabir Shah.

He was sent to the ED custody till August 14 by a Delhi court after he was flown in here from Srinagar.

A senior official in the central probe agency said Wani (36) was arrested in the morning by the ED with the help of the state police.

The ED had recently got a non-bailable warrant (NBW) issued against him from a Delhi court.

“The warrant against Wani was executed and he will now be confronted with Shah and others in order to take the probe forward,” he said.The agency had issued multiple summonses for his appearance in the case but he never appeared.

The agency also questioned Shah’s wife, Bilquees, in connection with the case yesterday.

Read | Terror funding case: Separatist Shabir Shah’s aide Aslam Wani arrested by ED

She has been summoned again by the agency later this week and has been asked to furnish certain financial documents.

Shah, now in the ED custody, was arrested by the agency from Srinagar on July 26.

The ED action against Shah and Wani is in pursuance of an August 2005 case, wherein the Delhi Police’s Special Cell had arrested Wani, an alleged hawala dealer, who had claimed that he passed on Rs 2.25 crore to Shah.

The ED had registered a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Shah and Wani.

Wani was arrested allegedly with Rs 63 lakh, received through ‘hawala’ channels from the Middle East, and a large cache of ammunition, on August 26, 2005.

During questioning, he had told the police that Rs 50 lakh was to be delivered to Shah and Rs 10 lakh to Jaish-e-Mohammad area commander in Srinagar, Abu Baqar, and that the rest was his commission.

Wani, who hails from Srinagar, had also claimed that he delivered around Rs 2.25 crore to Shah and his kin in multiple instalments over the past year.

In 2010, a Delhi court had cleared Wani of terror funding charges but had convicted him under the Arms Act.

The ED, sources said, wants to probe the “proceeds of crime” of alleged terror financing in this case.