In an early morning swoop, the National Investigative Agency (NIA) on Tuesday carried out raids at multiple locations across Jammu and Kashmir in connection with a Pakistan-backed terrorist conspiracy case.
The searches, being conducted at a total of 12 locations, were continuing till late in the evening, a spokesperson of the anti-terror probe agency said. While 11 of the locations raided were in Kashmir valley (eight in Pulwama district, one each in Kulgam, Anantnag and Budgam districts), one was under way in the border district Poonch of Jammu.
The NIA action comes weeks after a deadly terror attack in Poonch that killed five soldiers. Seven to eight terrorists in two groups are believed to have engineered the attack on the Army truck on April 20.
“The case (RC-05/2022/NIA/JMU) related to the hatching of a conspiracy, both physical and in cyberspace, and plans by proscribed terrorist organisations to execute violent terrorist attacks in J&K with sticky bombs, IEDs and small arms,” he said.
“The plans are part of a larger conspiracy by the terrorist groups to commit terror acts in association with local youths/overground workers in order to create communal disharmony in J&K. The terrorist outfits involved in the conspiracy were identified as Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), Al-Badr, Al-Qaeda, besides others,” the spokesperson added.
Searches were also being carried out in the premises of cadres and hybrid over-ground workers linked with the affiliates and offshoots of these organisations, operating under pseudo names such as “The Resistance Front (TRF)’, “United Liberation Front Jammu & Kashmir (UL J&K)”, “Mujahideen Gazwat-ul-Hind (MGH)", "Jammu & Kashmir Freedom Fighters (JKFF)", Kashmir Tigers, PAAF and others.
Initial investigations by the NIA indicated that these workers and cadres were involved in collection and distribution of sticky bombs or magnetic bombs, IEDs, cash, narcotics, and small weapons. These weapons, bombs, narcotics etc were being pushed on to the Indian soil by Pak-based handlers and commanders of proscribed terrorist organisations using drones to terrorists active in the Kashmir valley, the NIA spokesperson said.
The NIA had conducted multiple similar searches in the said terror conspiracy case at 14 locations in Jammu and Kashmir on June 24 last year. The searches, conducted then in the districts of Srinagar, Baramulla, Pulwama, Anantnag Budgam and Kathua, had led to the seizure of incriminating material and digital devices. NIA had registered a suo motu case on June 21, 2022 about the terrorist conspiracy.