The Enforcement Directorate (ED) carries out searches at eight locations in Bengaluru in connection with an alleged ISIS recruitment and terror-funding case, according to multiple reports. The action is linked to an earlier FIR filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) involving claims that individuals conspired to radicalize and recruit Muslim youth for the banned terrorist organization. The allegations include that funds were collected and channelled to support illegal travel of recruits to Syria.
One report says investigators trace routing of recruitment-related funding through two Bengaluru-based organisations, identified as Iqra Welfare Trust and GFM Trust, which are described as being involved in sending money to ISIS in Syria to support training activities. The same account states that the ED raids target these organisations and that recruitment from different parts of India was reportedly facilitated while local organisations paid expenses and money to family members of recruited youths.
All sources characterize the searches as part of a money trail probe, with the ED acting on information related to the NIA case and looking into organisations and related transactions tied to ISIS recruitment and activities abroad.