NIA arrests absconding LeT operative

 In a breakthrough in the Lashkar-e-Taiba fund raising case linked to terror activities in the country, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday said it has arrested an absconding accused involved in arranging funds through hawala channels from Saudi Arabia to Uttar Pradesh.

An NIA spokesperson in a statement said, "The agency has arrested Javed aka Javed Ali in connection with the case."

The official said Javed was arrested on Sunday from New Delhi for his role in funding an LeT operative named Sheikh Abdul Nayeem aka Sohel Khan, who was arrested and chargesheeted by the agency for criminal conspiracy to carry out subversive activities in India along with his associates.

The official said during investigation, it was found that Javed was affiliated to LeT, a proscribed outfit. "He was also involved in arranging funds through hawala channels from Saudi Arabia to Muzaffarnagar (UP) in 2017. The funds were received by the accused, Sheikh Abdul Nayeem," he said.

"Terror funds were used for carrying out recce in various places of India to recruit terrorists for LeT and identify soft targets, including foreign nationals and tourists," he said.

The NIA had registered the case in November 2017.

It arrested five persons -- Sheikh Abdul Nayeem aka Sohel, Bedar Bakht, Towseef Ahmad Malik, Dinesh Garg aka Ankit Garg and Adish Kumar Jain.

According to the anti-terror probe agency, five accused -- Amjed aka Rehan, Habib-ur-Rahman, Gul Nawaz, Javed and Mohammad Imran -- were absconding since 2017 out of which Javed has been arrested. IANS