NIA arrests Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin's eldest son; Shakeel Yusuf was under probe in 2011 terror funding case

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin’s son Shakeel Yusuf in connection with a 2011 terror funding case for allegedly receiving money from his father.

NIA team along with CRPF and local police arrested Shakeel, the son of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin from Rambagh in Srinagar: NIA Spokesperson to ANI

— ANI (@ANI) August 30, 2018

An NIA spokesman said in Delhi that Shakeel, at present working as a laboratory assistant at a prestigious government hospital, was picked up from Rambagh locality of Srinagar and placed under arrest. According to PTI, the spokesman said, “In an operation today morning, NIA team along with the police and CRPF arrested Shakeel in a terror funding case”. Shakeel had been under the NIA scanner for his alleged involvement in a 2011 terror funding case. [caption id=“attachment_3750559” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Syed Salahuddin. News18[/caption] Earlier in March 2018, Shakeel, the eldest son of the Hizbul chief,  was questioned by the NIA in the same case. The NIA alleged that Shakeel used to receive funds through a US-based international wire transfer company from Aijaz Ahmed Bhat, another accused in the case who is absconding and based in Saudi Arabia. The agency alleged Shakeel was “one of several Indian contacts of Bhat” who had been in telephonic contact with him for receiving money transfer codes. The agency believed that this money was used in funding terror and secessionist activities in Jammu and Kashmir. Shakeel is the second son of Salahuddin who has been arrested by the NIA in connection with the case. In October 2017, Salahuddin’s other son Syed Shahid Yusuf was arrested in the same case for allegedly receiving money from his father, who is currently based in Pakistan. According to The Hindu, Shahid, who was working in the Agriculture Department of the Jammu and Kashmir Government, is currently in the Tihar jail. Shahid was chargesheeted in April 2018 in the case. The NIA alleged that Shahid was involved in collecting funds from a terrorist outfit in Saudi Arabia as well as from other accused in the case, on the directions of his father Mohd Yousuf Shah, better known as Syed Salahuddin. The NIA had claimed that Shahid had received about Rs 4.5 lakh so far through eight international wire transfers. It had also registered two other cases related to terror funding — one in November 2011 and the other in May 2017. It had filed a charge sheet against 10 people including Salahuddin in the April 2011 case. Salahuddin, the self-styled supreme commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen, was declared a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the US Department of State in June last year. Besides heading Hizbul Mujahideen, Salahuddin is the chairman of the United Jihad Council (UJC), a conglomerate of terrorist outfits operating in the Kashmir Valley. With inputs from agencies