India’s jihadists atop $20 million nest egg

That’s 20 million U.S. dollars—not rupees. The money was routed in smaller increments through Islamic charities in Kashmir to avoid detection. Twenty million dollars is an enormous sum of money for any terrorist group (suggesting state sponsorship from Pakistan, or perhaps the Arab states in the Gulf), much less for what are typically regarded as middling regional terrorist organizations liken the Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and the Indian Mujahideen.

One disturbing aspect of this report is the statement that, “The [law enforcement] agencies believe that only a part of this money has been spent and much of it is still in their kitty, to be used as and when they decide to launch a major attack.” Indeed, that is enough money to pay operatives and sustain routine operations for several years, and still have more than enough money left over to launch a major 26/11 Mumbai style terrorist attack.

Thanks to El Grillo for sending in related news, which seems to be an update to reporting originally conducted by rediff.com last year when the amount of money in question was somewhat smaller. From News Room Post:

SIMI and IM have $ 20 million to spread terror in India, say sleuths

But where has this money been secreted away? This is what the joint team of Delhi and MP police, and the IB, want to find out. The investigating agencies say that with the prospects of the BJP taking power at the Centre becoming brighter these terror outfits would be raring to go after the new government

The most disturbing aspect of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) is that it has become self reliant, with a well oiled network capable of sources arms and raising finances on its own.

The Madhya Pradesh and Delhi police along with the Intelligence Bureau are poised to conduct a joint investigation of SIMI’s activities, whose prime objective is to find out where the terror outfit and its partner Indian Mujahideen (IM) have secreted away the $ 20 million that were sanctioned by their handlers.

Investigators are also keen to learn about SIMI’s revival strategy. They feel that as the possibility of a BJP-led government taking power at the Centre in Delhi becomes stronger SIMI too would have firmed up its resolve to create trouble for it. The outfits also have support from disillusioned and indoctrinated Muslims who easily get drawn to them.

The $20 million for SIMI and the IM are reportedly being routed through a ”charity organisation” in Jammu and Kashmir and are part of the $ 100 million that were sanctioned for terror activities in India over the past six years through similar fronts.

During their investigation the agencies, including the National Investigation Agency (NIA), found that the money was pumped in through charity outfits like the Jammu and Kashmir Affectees Relief Trust.

The agencies believe that only a part of this money has been spent and much of it is still in their kitty, to be used as and when they decide to launch a major attack. Both SIMI and the IM want to be completely independent in their operations without any kind of dependency on overseas terror groups. The homegrown terror groups, rather than depending on funds and ammunition from others, have connected with illegal arms dealers in the country. They also procure ammonium nitrate, which is used in making bombs, from underground suppliers in Kerala. In fact Kerala police have sounded a major alert to keep checks on the transport of the deadly substance, the sale of which is strictly regulated.

The reason why SIMI and the IM seek to operate independently of overseas groups is because the chances of the money trail getting busted are higher when foreign transactions are involved. This is particularly so with the Gulf becoming extremely strict in the matter. As a result these outfits have been routing the money through ”charity organisations” and ”NGOs” — which are actually fronts that collect the funds in a seemingly legitimate way to spend it illegitimately…