Home Ministry seeks report from ED on Hurriyat link to 26/11 funds

NEW DELHI: The Home Ministry today sought a report from the Enforcement Directorate on its claim about common link between the money received by Firdous Ahmad Shah, a member of Syed Ali Shah Geelani's hardline Hurriyat Conference, and financiers of 26/11 attack.

"We have sought a report from the ED on the issue," a Home Ministry official said on the claim by ED.

"We may also ascertain whether any other member of Hurriyat also received funds from the same source," the official said.

The ED, which recently filed its first chargesheet in a money laundering case in the Kashmir Valley, has alleged that Shah, Chairman of Democratic Political Movement, received over Rs three crore between 2007 to 2010.

The money was received allegedly from 'Madina Trading' located in Brescia in Italy and the sender was claimed to be Javed Iqbal, a resident of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK).

The name of Madina trading had cropped up during the investigation of 26/11 Mumbai attacks when it was found that the second payment of 229 US dollars was wired to Callphonex via Western Union Money Transfer receipt number 8364307716-0 for activating the Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) used during the terror strikes.

The sender of this payment was Javed Iqbal and he had used Western Union Money Transfer agent Madina Trading to make the payment to Callphonex.