An Indian citizen, Sundar Nagarajan, has been arrested in London by Scotland Yard on an extradition warrant from the US. This is part of a UK-US coordinated action against terrorism financing. The police arrested Nagarajan from an address at Hayes in west London on Tuesday. He was refused bail and is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London next week. The US authorities want him for fraud and money laundering offences. Reports suggest that he helped to launder money to evade US sanctions and fund Hizbollah.
The arrest was part of a wider operation by the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command. They also arrested a 50-year-old man in Wales on suspicion of funding terrorism and wealthy art collector and diamond dealer Nazem Ahmad for suspected terrorist financing and money laundering. Ahmad is suspected of being a funding source for Hizballah, a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK and US. Sanctions against Ahmad were also announced this week by the UK government alongside the US government sanctions against Ahmad and a number of his suspected associates, including Nagarajan.
Detective Chief Superintendent Gareth Rees of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command said: “Terrorist groups rely on financial support and funding for their activities and the NTFIU works closely with agencies in the UK and around the world to identify and take action against those people who provide and facilitate this funding.” The NTFIU comprises of specialist financial investigators who investigate suspicious financial activity where they believe it may have links to terrorism.
The Met Police said that searches at two commercial addresses, both in east London, were carried out by officers this week in connection with the investigation. The NTFIU’s action in the case coincided with the US Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York unsealing a nine-count indictment.
Nagarajan is named among his associates who used numerous corporate entities and individuals to disguise Ahmad’s control and beneficial interest in the companies and in financial transactions and facilitate the acquisition of multiple pieces of valuable artwork and diamond-grading services for millions of dollars’ worth of diamonds from US persons, according to the US authorities.
