PFI Properties Worth Rs 56 Crore Attached In ED's Latest Anti-Terrorism Crackdown

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized 35 immovable properties valued at Rs 56.56 crore belonging to the outlawed radical group, the Popular Front of India (PFI), which were held under the names of various trusts, firms, and individuals.

In a statement released by the central investigative agency on Friday, it was detailed that 19 properties worth Rs 35.43 crore and 16 others valued at Rs 21.13 crore, making a total of 35 immovable assets valued at Rs 56.56 crore, had been attached.

Photo Credit: PTI

The ED's investigation alleged that PFI office bearers, members, and cadres were involved in a conspiracy to raise funds from within India and abroad via banking channels, hawala, donations, and other means to facilitate and finance terrorist activities in the country.

'Illegal funds deposited in 29 bank accounts of PFI'

According to the ED, the funds generated by PFI from illicit means both domestically and internationally were reportedly deposited in 29 bank accounts spread across India, including states like Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, and Manipur.

The funds collected through illicit methods and under the guise of fake donors, whether in cash or via bank accounts, were considered as Proceeds of Crime, amounting to Rs 94 crore, as claimed by the ED.

So far, the ED has arrested 26 PFI members and cadres, and nine prosecution complaints have been lodged between February 2021 and May 2024.

'Over 13,000 active PFI members in Singapore and Gulf nations'

The ED's investigation further revealed that PFI has over 13,000 active members in countries like Singapore and Gulf nations, including Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

PFI has reportedly established well-structured District Executive Committees (DECs) for the non-resident Muslim diaspora living in these Gulf countries.

These DECs were tasked with raising funds, with each committee being given targets amounting to several crores of rupees, the agency said.

The funds collected overseas were then transferred to India through complex banking channels and underground hawala networks to obscure their origins, before being handed over to PFI leaders to support their terrorist and unlawful activities, the ED added.

The ED claimed that PFI's actual aim is to establish an organisation to "carry out an Islamic movement in India through Jihad, though PFI masquerades as a social movement."