NIA searches multiple locations in J&K to dismantle terror support system

Srinagar/Jammu, May 20 (PTI) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday raided multiple locations in eight districts in Jammu and Kashmir as part of its efforts to dismantle terror support systems in the Union territory, an official said.

Extensive searches were conducted in Srinagar, Budgam, Pulwama, Shopian, Awantipora, Anantnag and Kupwara districts in Kashmir and Poonch district in Jammu division, a spokesperson of the federal agency said.

The official said the raids were conducted at more than a dozen places in connection with various cases related to members of the banned Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) and overground workers involved in conspiracies hatched by proscribed terrorist organisations and their affiliates.

The searches also focused on the terror funding case registered suo motu by the agency on February 5, 2021, the spokesperson said, adding a large number of incriminating documents and digital devices were seized during the searches and were being scrutinised to track further links of the suspects.

The terror funding case pertains to the collection of funds by JeI (J&K) ostensibly for charitable purposes but used instead for promotion of terror activities by proscribed terrorist organisations such as Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the official said.

The NIA had earlier charge-sheeted four persons in the case, involving well-organised cadres of the terrorist outfits operating in Jammu and Kashmir.

On June 21 last year, the NIA registered another case against various banned terrorist organisations and their newly floated affiliates.

“The case related to the conspiracies being hatched physically and in cyberspace by these outfits for carrying out violent terrorist attacks in J&K with sticky bombs, improvised explosive devices and small arms.

“The banned organisations and their affiliates have been engaged in conspiring to commit acts of terror and violence by radicalizing local youth and mobilizing overground workers with the aim of disrupting the peace and communal harmony of J&K,” the spokesperson said.

Continuing with its investigations in both these cases, the official said, the NIA has been moving swiftly to take action against some of the recently launched affiliates of the banned terrorist organisations such as LeT, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Al-Badr and Al-Qaeda.

Among the affiliates under the NIA scrutiny are The Resistance Front (TRF), United Liberation Front Jammu & Kashmir (ULFJ&K), Mujahideen Gazwat-ul-Hind (MGH), Jammu & Kashmir Freedom Fighters (JKFF), Kashmir Tigers and People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), the spokesperson said.

The official said the investigations so far have shown that cadres and workers of these outfits are involved in collection and distribution of sticky bombs, magnetic bombs, IEDs, funds, drugs and weapons and ammunition, as well as in spreading activities relating to terror, violence and subversion in Jammu and Kashmir.