New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) carried out searches at 32 locations across Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday to probe a conspiracy hatched by Pakistan-based terror outfits, officials said.
The locations were residential premises of hybrid terrorists and overground workers associated with these Pakistan-based offshoots, such as The Resistance Front (TRF), United Liberation Front Jammu and Kashmir (ULFJ&K), Mujahideen Gazwat-ul-Hind (MGH), Jammu and Kashmir Freedom Fighters (JKFF), Kashmir Tigers, People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF) and others, they said.
All of these outfits are affiliated to proscribed terrorist organisations, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Al-Badr etc., the officials said.
The raids were carried out in Pulwama, Kulgam, Shopian, Baramulla and Kupwara districts, they added.
The searches were part of continuing investigations against a terror conspiracy hatched by Pakistan-backed proscribed terrorist organisations and their offshoots to destabilise Jammu and Kashmir, according to a statement issued by the NIA.
“Thirty-two locations in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir were searched as part of today’s crackdown,” the statement said.
The cadres and workers whose premises were searched are under the NIA’s scanner for their involvement in supporting terror activities, such as facilitating terrorists, collection and distribution of sticky bombs or magnetic bombs, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), funds, narcotic substances and arms and ammunition, the statement said.
According to the NIA investigations, these offshoots, supported by their leaders in Pakistan, have been conspiring to commit acts of terror and violence by radicalising local youngsters and mobilising overground workers to disturb peace and communal harmony in Jammu and Kashmir.
The investigations have revealed that Pakistan-based operatives are using social media platforms and online apps to facilitate and promote terror, the NIA said.
“Drones were being used by them to deliver arms/ammunition, explosives, narcotics etc. to their operatives and cadres in the Kashmir valley,” the probe agency said.
Two live cartridges, a fired bullet head and a bayonet were seized during the searches, it added.
Besides, several digital devices containing large volumes of incriminating data and documents have been found by the NIA.
These will be subjected to a thorough scrutiny by the agency to unravel the details of the terror conspiracy, the NIA said.
