How Saradha scam money fuelled terror activity in West Bengal

New Delhi: The bomb blast at Khagragarh village in Burdwan district and subsequent unearthing of bomb-making units in other districts in West Bengal have exposed a deadly cocktail of hawala operation, money laundering, and round-tripping of illicit money via tax havens and NGOs to fund terror operations in India and Bangladesh Joint investigation by the National Investigation Agency, Enforcement Directorate, Intelligence Bureau and other central agencies has revealed how money collected from the poor in West Bengal through the Saradha ponzi scheme was transferred using the hawala channel to fund terror activities of Jamat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). It also exposes the deadly nexus of a few local politicians, chit fund conmen and terror operatives. According to a Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) report, about Rs 850 crore had been sent abroad from West Bengal between 2009 and 2012, of which a major chunk was generated by the Saradha scam. “A big portion of the wealth generated by the Saradha chit fund scam was deposited in the Islamic Bank of Bangladesh, allegedly to fuel terror activities in India and Bangladesh by Bangladesh-based group JMB,” an intelligence source said. The last installment deposited from West Bengal in the bank account in Bangladesh is reportedly Rs 60 crore. It was a leader of the ruling Trinamool Congress who made it possible. During its probe into the Saradha scam, the ED found that money deposited in the Bangladesh bank was meant for investment in the real estate in West Asian countries. “This modus operandi was adopted for laundering money,” the source said. [caption id=“attachment_1517893” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of the police escorting Saradha Group’s Chairman Sudipta Sen. Reuters.[/caption] A series of investigation and input from Bangladesh government shows that the money deposited in the Islamic Bank of Bangladesh, which played a pivotal role, was transferred to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Mexico and to a few tax havens through hawala channel and then funneled back to Bengal. “That money was pumped into the local terror modules affiliated to JMB in WB. The Burdwan’s money trail can be traced to three NGOs – blacklisted by the US due to their close proximity to al-Qaeda. These NGOs were used to transfer the money back to India. “A Kuwait-based NGO, Society for the Revival of Islamic Heritage (RIHS), and the two Saudi Arabia-based organisations - Rabata-al-Alam-al-Islami and al-Nahiyan - were used to transfer money to JMB,” the source said. “Similar to top businessmen and politicians, now the terrorists are also using hawala operation to channelise ill-gotten money to fund terror activities. Hawala is only a part of the problem; dubious NGOs are a bigger menace,” said defence analyst, Sushant Sareen. Though it becomes public only recently, the intelligence reports trace activities of RIHS and JMB in West Bengal to 2006. “It’s not that terrorist activities started only after Mamata Banerjee came to power with a landslide victory over the Left Front. The undercover nexus between the said NGO and JMB came to light in 2006, during Left Front regime in Bengal, but no action was taken. In 2010, the JMB started spreading its network in Burdwan, Birbhum, Malda, Murshidabad and Nadia districts. It even announced West Bengal as its 65th branch,” a Kolkata-based senior journalist pointed out. Besides money from the infamous Saradha scam, the other sources of income that funded the terror outfit were from cross-border cattle trafficking, drug trafficking, smuggling of counterfeit currency notes and a part of the Rs 46 lakh booty from bank robbery at the State Bank of India’s Karimnagar branch in Telengana. West Bengal has been used as a base by the Jamat-e-Islami, which is in a battle with the Awami League-led government, to create disturbances and unleash terror activities in Bangladesh through JMB. “First, West Bangal border is close to Bangladesh, so it helped jihadis to infiltrate into the state. Second, due to the secular and cosmopolitan nature of Bengal, it became easier for the jihadis to operate discreetly, as no one could doubt their movements. And, last, Mamata Banerjee’s overt appeasement of minority community, despite a section indulging in terror activities made Bengal a safe haven of terrorism,” said director, Centre for Land Warfare Studies, Maj Gen (retd) Dhruv Katoch. The NIA investigation has further revealed that by using hawala channel Rs 15-16 crore has been transferred to Bengal and Assam to fund several jihadi modules. Out of an annual budget of Rs 1 crore earmarked for Bengal by JMB for purchasing of weapons, explosives, network expansion, cadre recruitment and training, Rs 40 lakh was set aside to give salaries to jihadis, including the organisation’s topmost leader like Shakil Gazi, who got killed at Khagragarh blast. A leading Bangla daily had alleged that Mamata funded the extremist Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh and in turn, her party received funds from the outfit during the 2011 assembly election and 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The money from Saradha group was stuffed into bags, smuggled into Bangladesh and the operation was allegedly managed by TMC MP Ahmed Hassan Imran. “We’ve been saying since long about TMC’s links with terrorists and the aid they got. Intelligence reports have revealed that Ahmed Hassan Imran transferred the funds from across the border and several TMC leaders are under scanner for sheltering Jammat-e-Islami operatives,” a senior CPI (M) member alleged.