Lahore: A British team is in Pakistan to probe whether two Islamic charities misused October 2005 earthquake relief funds to finance a mid-flight terror plot against US-bound planes.
The six-member team of the National Terrorist Finance Investigation Unit is investigating the charities linked to Jaish-e-Mohammad, a Pakistani Kashmir-based militant organisation.
According to diplomatic sources, the British authorities want arrested all those behind financing the plot.
The charities Al Rasheed Trust and Al Akhtar Trust and Jaish's affiliate Jamaat-Ul-Furqan are under a cloud over the terror plot.
The charities had been banned by the American State Department in 2004 and their accounts subsequently were frozen in Pakistan.
Despite being declared terrorist support organisations for their alleged Al Qaida links, the Karachi-based banned Islamic charities allegedly took advantage of the October 8 earthquake to revive themselves and resume their activities.
The two charities reportedly collected billions of rupees from across Pakistan ostensibly for relief and rehabilitation of quake victims.
British investigators believe millions of rupees collected for the quake victims by the two charities were diverted to the terror attack plotters. They have sought the audited accounts of the organisations in an attempt to pinpoint any likely fund diversion.
Diplomatic sources said the British team also intends to inquire about some allegedly dubious financial transactions between an Islamic charity in England and two in Pakistan.
The team has sought from Islamabad details of huge donations Al Rashid Trust and Al Akhtar Trust received from a UK-based NGO Human Aid.
The two charities reportedly received $10 million (Dh36.7 million) each from Human Aid that had transferred the funds to the Quetta branch of Metropolitan Bank in January, 2006.
The sources said that British authorities had traced many CTs (Credit Transfer) transactions in the accounts of the two suspect charities which did not appear on their balance sheets.
