1 held in NIA raids in Madhya Pradesh's Bhind, Barwani districts

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested one person after raids at two places in Madhya Pradesh as part of its action being carried out in some states of the country, MP Home Minister Narottam Mishra said on Wednesday.

The NIA is carrying out raids at more than 100 in six states in connection with cases related to narco-terror-gangster nexus, officials said. The raids were conducted in Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand, they said.

The NIA team nabbed a person from Bhind district and also conducted raid in Sendhwa town (Barwani district), Mishra told reporters. This is part of raids being carried out at more than 150 places in the country, he said.

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In Sendhwa, the team has conducted raids at a place where Sikligar (community members) live, he said without giving further details. Members of the Sikligar community in some states have been under the radar of security agencies as a section of them have been allegedly involved in illegal manufacturing and supply of illegal weapons.

The NIA registered three cases last year following information suggesting that terrorist outfits and their sympathisers abroad were operating as members of organised criminal gangs active in the northern states of India for targeted killings and violent criminal acts.

It has also emerged that the terror-gangster-drug smuggler network was also engaged in smuggling terrorist hardware such as arms, ammunition explosives and IEDs among others across borders through a widespread interstate network of gun runners, illegal arms and ammunition manufacturers and suppliers and explosive traffickers.

The NIA has already arrested 19 members of various criminal gangs, two arms suppliers and one financier connected with the network under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.