New Delhi – India’s Enforcement Directorate detained a top member of the outlawed Hamas-style Popular Front of India (PFI) on Thursday. According to the investigation agency, Shahul Hameed, the defendant, was reportedly arranging money from Singapore and other locations both legitimately and unlawfully.
Hameed was deported from Singapore to India and detained upon arrival in Madurai. He was presented to a Delhi court, which remanded him for ten days to the ED’s custody.
The reward for any information regarding Shahul Hameed was increased by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to Rs 3 lakh in May.
The ED filed a money laundering investigation against the top officials of the now-banned group last year.
The Centre designated PFI and its affiliates as a “unlawful association” in a broad assault on PFI.
“The Popular Front of India and its associates, affiliates, or fronts have been found to be involved in serious offences that are detrimental to the integrity, security, and sovereignty of the nation, such as terrorism and its financing, targeted brutal killings, disobeying the country’s constitutional order, causing public disturbances, etc. The Popular Front of India, along with its associates, affiliates, or fronts, has been declared a “unlawful association” under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, the Centre said in a release. As a result, the Ministry of Home Affairs felt it necessary to stop the organization’s evil deeds.
Since the prohibition last year, the ED and the NIA have conducted raids on a number of PFI leaders and employees.
