Major NIA crackdown on nexus between gangsters, terrorists, drug mafia; 76 locations in 8 states raided

In a major crackdown on the nexus between gangsters, terrorist groups and drug-smugglers based in foreign countries including Pakistan and Canada, the NIA conducted raids at 76 locations across eight states on Tuesday and seized a large cache of arms and ammunition and cash to tune of Rs 1.5 crores.

A National Investigation Agency (NIA) spokesperson said the raids follow three cases registered by the agency since August 2022.

Several people, including some Kabbadi players, have been identified in these cases and booked for their alleged involvement in terror and other criminal activities, including targeted killings and extortions from leading businessmen and professionals, an official spokesperson said.

Read | NIA searches under way in 70 locations across 8 states in Lawrence Bishnoi-Neeraj Bawana network case

Iinvestigation shows that conspiracies for several such crimes including the sensational killing of Maharashtra builder Sanjay Biyani, and international Kabbadi player Sandeep Nangal Ambia (in Punjab last year) were being hatched in jails of different states and were executed by an organised network of operatives based abroad, the spokesperson said.

Today's raids, the fifth in the series of such crackdowns, were conducted in Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, the spokesperson said.

These raids, focused on arms suppliers and hawala operators working with these gangs, led to the recovery of nine illegal weapons, including pistols, revolvers and rifles, and Rs 1.5 crores in cash, the spokesperson said.

Incriminating material, including documents, hard drives and mobile phones, were also seized.

The raids were conducted at 76 locations in Abohar, Bhatinda, Muktsar Sahab, Moga, Fazilka , Ludhiana, Mohali, Ferozpur, Tarn Taran, Ludhiana , Faridkot, Sangrur and Jalandhar districts of Punjab.

The raids were conducted also in Gurugram, Yamuna Nagar, Rohtak, Mahendragarh, Sirsa and Jhajjar districts of Haryana; Sri Ganga Nagar, Sikar, Jodhpur and Jaipur districts of Rajasthan; Baghpat, Bareilly, Pratapgarh, Bulanshehar, Lucknow and Pilibhit of Uttar Pradesh; Ujjain and Ratlam districts of Madhya Pradesh; Byculla in Mumbai; Gandhidham in Gujarat; and Dwarka, Central and Outer North Districts of Delhi/ NCR.

Searches were conducted at the premises of Lakhvir Singh of Gidderbaha at Muktsar, Naresh at Abohar, Surender alias Cheeku at Narnaul in Haryana, Kaushal Choudhary and Amit Dagar at Gurugram and Sunil Rathi at Bagpat in Uttar Pradesh.

Some hawala operators, kabaddi players, weapon suppliers, gun houses, businessmen and their alleged financers, were also raided.

The investigations have shown that many criminals, who were leading gangsters in India, had fled to countries like Pakistan, Canada, Malaysia and Australia and were planning their crimes from there in association with criminals lodged in jails in different states.

These groups were carrying out targeted killings and raising funds for their nefarious activities through smuggling of drugs and weapons, hawala and extortions.

Further investigations are on to dismantle such terror networks and their funding and support infrastructure, the spoesperson said.