Authorities led by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday conducted raids against the radical Islamic organisation Popular Front of India (PFI) spread across 93 locations of 15 states that included Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goa, West Bengal, Bihar, and Manipur.
The crackdown was against the outfit’s leaders and cadres for their alleged involvement in the funding of terrorism and terrorist activities, organising training camps for providing armed training, and radicalising people to join banned organisations, officials said.
According to top intelligence sources, PFI’s funding is mainly through mosques and madrassas and they target Eid for zakat (obligatory almsgiving).
Internationally, they said, PFI is getting huge funds from the India Fraternity Forum, Muslim Relief Network, and other connected Kerala-based NGOs got donations from West Asia.
Funds are coming from Islamic Development Banks, and the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, as per the sources.
Muslim businessmen and PFI supporters are also sending large sums of money for books and other audiovisual material through hawala channels, officials said.
According to sources, PFI is also raising funds through Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries operating in the field of manpower supply. They are reportedly using manpower supply companies for raising funds and giving jobs in their cadres.
The PFI, said sources, is running many manpower supply companies in GCC nations like the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Around 30,000 cadres from Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka are working with these companies, they added.
As per the sources, the PFI collects 100 dirhams each from these people, taking it from their salaries.
The organisation generates almost 3 million dirhams every month from these GCC countries, they maintained.
PFI is also in the real estate and car rental businesses in the GCC nations, said the sources.
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