SRINAGAR (JAMMU AND KASHMIR): Barely two days after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested two operatives of The Resistance Front (TRF), the anti-terror probe agency on Tuesday carried out more extensive searches at 16 locations in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in connection with a fresh case of terror conspiracy in the state. TRF is an offshoot of the Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). The operations were still on at the time of publishing this report.
“The raids at 16 locations across Jammu and Kashmir began early morning with the assistance of the CRPF and the J&K Police,” an NIA official related to the probe told The New Indian. The agency is conducting searches in the Kashmir valley in connection with J&K terrorism conspiracy case that was registered recently, an NIA spokesperson in Delhi added.
The case pertains to conspiracy for conducting violent terrorist acts in J&K and other major cities by the cadres of proscribed terrorist organisation LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), and their affiliates Al Badr, TRF, People Against Fascist Forces (PAFF), Mujahideen Gazwatul Hind (MGH) etc, shared the official. ALSO READ – Mundra Port Drug Recovery Case: Here’s What We Know Of NIA’s Searches At 5 NCR Locations
The fresh searches come two days after the NIA arrested two TRF operatives, identified as Tawseef Ahmed Wani, a resident of Baramulla, and Faiz Ahmed Khan, a resident of Anantnag, for their involvement in the conspiracy. The NIA had registered a case on July 19 this year and is related to the recovery of an IED from an LeT terrorist in Jammu’s Bathindi area on June 27 this year. Earlier, three LeT terrorists were arrested in this case. The NIA also carried out searches at seven locations in Kulgam, Srinagar and Baramulla districts of J&K on October 10.
During the probe, it was found that Pakistan-based handlers of LeT and their associates based in J&K had conspired to cause extensive terror activities for harming the general public. “They had planned for the TRF to take responsibility for the terrorist acts so as to maintain plausible deniability and evade law enforcement agencies,” the NIA had said.