SRINAGAR: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday clamped down harder on terrorist outfits and their offshoots and affiliates operating in the Kashmir valley to disrupt peace and communal harmony in Jammu and Kashmir by spreading terror, violence and subversion.
The agency conducted a series of raids in Anantnag, Srinagar, Pulwama, Shopian and Budgam districts of Kashmir and seized incriminating material and documents etc.
NIA launched extensive searches at 13 locations of sympathisers, cadres, hybrid terrorists and Overground Workers (OGWs) linked with the newly-formed offshoots and affiliates of several proscribed Pak-backed terror organisations, including Laskhar-e-Toiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), Al-Badr, Al-Qaeda.
The raids were part of the ongoing investigations of the NIA in the terror conspiracy case, involving the activities of OGWs and cadres in support of various newly-launched terror outfits, such as The Resistance Front (TRF), United Liberation Front Jammu & Kashmir (ULFJ&K), Mujahideen Gazwat-ul-Hind (MGH), Jammu & Kashmir Freedom Fighters (JKFF), Kashmir Tigers and PAAF, among others.
Besides terrorist and violent activities, these cadres and workers had been found involved in the collection and distribution of sticky bombs/magnetic bombs, IEDs, funds, narcotics and arms/ammunition.
NIA investigations had further revealed that Pakistan-based operatives were involved in the delivery of arms and ammunition, along with explosives and narcotics, to these cadres and workers in the Kashmir valley via drones. Social media platforms were also widely used by operatives across the border to connect with OGWs and cadres in Kashmir.
NIA registered the case suo motu on June 21, 2022. The matter related to conspiracies and plans, hatched physically as well as in cyberspace, by these proscribed terrorist organisations. The conspirators aimed to unleash violent terrorist attacks in J&K with sticky bombs, IEDs, small arms, etc. as part of a larger conspiracy to commit acts of terror and violence by radicalising local youth and mobilising and deploying overground workers.
In connection with the investigation of this case, since the beginning of this month, the NIA has conducted more than 70 searches in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.