With Indian intelligence agencies coming down hard on terrorists attempting to create unrest in the border village of Rajasthan, cash-strapped militants in the state have resorted to a new tactic to fund their activities.
According to a Times of India report, intelligence agencies in Rajasthan have found that ISI handlers allegedly set up donation boxes at places of worship, and use the money donated by devotees to carry out terrorist activities in the state’s border villages.
The tactic of terror funding came to light when the police was interrogating ISI spy Deena Khan, who was arrested last week from a remote village in Barmer district.
“Khan revealed that he was in-charge of a small Mazar in Chohtan village of Barmer district and distributed Rs 3.5 lakh of Mazar's donation to other spies like Satram Maheswari and his nephew Vinod Maheswari,” a senior state intelligence officer was quoted by Times of India as saying.
He added that Deena’s handlers in Pakistan would call him over phone, and ask him to distribute fund accordingly.
During the interrogation, it was found that Deena Khan distributed the amount among several spies, including Satram and Haji Khan, who were arrested by the border intelligence earlier this year for sharing confidential information about the movement of Indian troops along the international border.
“Since no record books were maintained by the Mazar authorities, Deena Khan secretly used part of the religious offerings to fund anti-national activities,” said the police officer.
Following the revelation, the police now suspect that the ISI may have set up several such donation boxes at multiple locations in border areas to fund terror activities.
“It is difficult to distribute money through hawala network as it can be traced. Hence, the donation boxes are easy way to collect money and distribute it among the spies,” said the officer.
