NIA raids 9 locations in Srinagar linked to terrorist-activities case

The raids were conducted at the sites associated with individuals with link to terrorism as part of a case registered by the agency in 2022.

Srinagar: The National Investigation Agency on Monday carried out raids at nine locations in Srinagar in a militancy-related case, officials said here.

The case relates to a terror conspiracy involving plans by terrorist organisations and their newly floated offshoots to unleash violence in Jammu and Kashmir by using sticky bombs, improvised explosive devices and small arms, they said.

"In a massive crackdown in the Jammu and Kashmir terror conspiracy case involving Pakistan-backed banned terrorist organisations and their offshoots, the NIA raided nine locations across Kashmir," a spokesman of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said.

He said digital devices containing large volumes of incriminating data and documents were seized during the raids conducted on the premises of hybrid terrorists and Overground Workers (OGWs) linked to the newly formed offshoots and affiliates of proscribed outfits such as the Laskhar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Al-Badr and Al-Qaeda among others.

The premises of sympathisers and cadres of these organisations were also searched extensively, the spokesperson added.

The NIA said its teams cracked down on these properties and conducted elaborate searches as part of its investigation in the case registered by the anti-terror agency suo motu on June 21, 2022.

Backed by their Pakistan-based masters and mentors, these terror outfits have been conspiring to carry out terror acts aimed at disturbing the peace and communal harmony in J-K by radicalising local youths and mobilising overground workers, the spokesperson said.

The outfits include The Resistance Front (TRF), United Liberation Front Jammu & Kashmir (ULFJ&K), Mujahideen Gazwat-ul-Hind (MGH), Jammu & Kashmir Freedom Fighters (JKFF), Kashmir Tigers, PAAF and others, he added.

All of them are affiliated with the banned terrorist organisations and were floated as frontal outfits to carry out the nefarious agenda of the main militant groups, the spokesman added.

The digital devices and other data recovered during the searches are being scrutinised to expose and dismantle the conspiracy, the NIA said.