India tracks terror fund, Nepal seizes it –ToI-7.12.11

Money Transferred From Singapore To Kathmandu For Insurgent Group In Assam, Nagaland

New Delhi: In a major breakthrough for efforts to curb terror funding, Indian agencies tracked a huge payment routed by a northeastern insurgent group from Singapore to Nepal, and got Kathmandu to seize the payment. 
    According to sources, the amount belongs to Dima Haolam Daogah (Jewel faction) DHD(J) aka Black Widow, an insurgent group active in Assam and Nagaland. The amount of $200,000 was remitted through proper banking channels from Singapore to Nepal to an account with Everest Bank’s branch in New Baneswar in Kathmandu. 
    DHD(J) has been active in Assam and Nagaland, demanding ‘Dimasaland’ for the Dimasa people in areas falling under both the states. 
    Investigators believe the payment of $200,000(approx Rs1 crore) was transferred by Niranjan Hojai, the self-styled commander-in-chief of DHD (J). 
    Hojai is named as a key accused in two cases filed by the National Investigation Agency into diversion of public funds in northeast for insurgent activities, and also figures in several insurgency related cases. 
    The money was remitted from a Citibank branch in Singapore into the account of Sarita Giri Rai, Hojai’s wife who lives in Kathmandu. 
    After Indian intelligence agencies picked upspecific information about the money transfer, Nepalese and Singaporean authorities were alerted. Even before Singapore reverted with the banking details, Nepal authorities had detected the unusually high bank transfer, and seized it. 
    Rai was summoned for questioning and she couldn’t explain the source and reason for the huge amount. Sources said she admitted to investigators that the money belonged to her husband. 
    According to senior sources here, India will ask Nepal to treat the entire amount as terrorist money and take appropriate action. “Not merely as unexplained foreign exchange,” an official said. 
    Meanwhile, Indian agencies are in touch with Singaporean authorities to trace the source of the $200,000. Indian investigators are convinced that the money was generated through extortion by the insurgent group from India. 
    “It is not often that we are able to successfully track terror funding. In fact, it isn’t easy at all to track terror transactions so specifically,” a source said. 
    While India agencies do keep a watch on suspicious bank transactions, there has been very little success in interdiction of terrorist funding targeted against India, coming into the country or moving between other countries. 
    In the case of terrorist groups such as Indian Mujahideen, investigators have found that almost the entire money meant for its operations were moved around using illegal hawala routes, which is almost impossible to track.