The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on July 20 carried out searches at five locations in Kashmir in a case pertaining to the criminal conspiracy for carrying out terrorist and subversive activities hatched by the cadres and Overground Workers (OGWs) of various proscribed organisations and their affiliates or off-shoots operating under various pseudo names at the behest of their Pakistani commanders and handlers.
The raids are still underway against newly floated off-shoots of proscribed Pakistan-backed banned terrorist outfits operating in Jammu & Kashmir, sources said.
The locations being raided by the NIA sleuths are residential premises of hybrid terrorists and OGWs linked with the newly-formed off-shoots and affiliates of several banned Kashmiri terrorist outfits. Premises of sympathisers and cadres of these organisations are also being raided.
All these cadres and workers are being investigated for activities relating to terror, violence and subversion in Jammu & Kashmir.
The NIA suspects their involvement in the collection and distribution of sticky bombs, magnetic bombs, Improvised Explosive Devices, funds, narcotic substances and arms and ammunition.
This is the NIA’s second raid in the case within 15 days. The agency had conducted raids at five locations in South Kashmir on July 11.
The places earlier searched by the NIA include three districts of Anantnag, Shopian and Pulwama in the Kashmir valley. It led to the seizure of several digital devices containing massive incriminating data.
The places searched include the premises of sympathisers and cadres of the newly floated outfits, namely 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.
The Jammu & Kashmir terror conspiracy case, was registered suo moto by the NIA on June 21 last year. It relates to a physical and online conspiracy by the banned terror organisations to launch a series of violent terrorist attacks in Jammu & Kashmir with sticky bombs, IEDs and small arms. The Pakistan-backed outfits are also engaged in radicalising local youth and mobilising overground workers, to disturb peace and communal harmony in Jammu & Kashmir.
As per NIA investigations, Pak-based operatives behind the conspiracy were using various social media platforms to spread terror among the people. They were also using drones to deliver arms and ammunition, explosives and narcotics to their agents and cadres in the Kashmir valley.
The newly floated terror outfits under investigation 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. These outfits are affiliated to major banned terrorist organisations like Laskhar-e-Toiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), Al-Badr and Al-Qaeda.
On May 21, the NIA also arrested Kashmir-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) operative for his involvement in a terror conspiracy case in Jammu & Kashmir.
NIA also arrested Mohd Ubaid Malik, a resident of Kupwara district in Kashmir, based on inputs that he was in constant touch with a Pakistan-based JeM Commander.
The arrest was conducted as part of the crackdown by the NIA against the conspiracies being hatched by proscribed terrorist organisations based across the border to destabilise India through terrorist attacks in Jammu & Kashmir.
Earlier on May 2 last year, the NIA had carried out searches at 12 locations in Jammu & Kashmir. The places searched then included 11 in the Kashmir valley (eight in Pulwama district and one each in Kulgam, Anantnag and Budgam districts), and one Poonch in Jammu.
The case was related to the hatching of a conspiracy, both physical and in cyberspace, and plans by proscribed terrorist organisations to execute violent terrorist attacks in Jammu & Kashmir with sticky bombs, Improvised Explosive Devices and small arms.
The NIA had conducted multiple similar searches in the terror conspiracy case at 14 locations in Jammu & Kashmir on June 24 last year. The searches were in the districts of Srinagar, Baramulla, Pulwama, Anantnag Budgam and Kathua, which had led to the seizure of incriminating material and digital devices.
