Fundraising Fraud Racket In Name of Gaza Crisis Busted by UP ATS, 3 Held

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (UP ATS) arrested three people that were running a major fraud racket under the pretext of helping Gaza war victims and collected crores of money into their

account. UP ATS says that the funds collected by them were diverted for personal use and suspicious activities. ATS raided different locations in Bhiwandi in Maharashtra’s and arrested three youths and they were in raids and were brought under ATS custody. The ATS produced them before a court in Maharashtra and they are now being taken back to UP after securing transit remand.The arrested accused were identified as Mohammad Ayaan (22), Zaid Notiyar (22) and Abu Sufiyan (22). An FIR was registered against all three accused at the ATS police station in Lucknow under Sections 152, 318(4), and 61(2) of the BNS.UP Police, ADG Law and Order Amitabh Yash says that acting on intelligence inputs, ATS teams secured non-bailable warrants from a competent court and arrested the accused on September 20 in coordinated raids with local police support. ADG Yash further says that the accused created multiple Instagram pages, WhatsApp groups, and other online platforms where they circulated emotional appeals and videos highlighting the plight of women and children affected by the Gaza conflict. The accused were circulating videos and were appealing to people to donate for food, milk, medicines for the people of Gaza.As per UP Police, the accused provided their UPI IDs and personal bank account details for the donations. Crores of rupees were collected over weeks, but investigations revealed that a significant portion of the funds never reached any humanitarian channels instead were being used for criminal activities. The ATS will now take police custody remand for custodial interrogation of all three accused for further investigation. Officials confirmed the recovery of three mobile phones used in running the social media campaigns, communication, and fund transfers. Digital forensic teams will analyse these devices to trace donor records, money trails, and potential foreign contacts.