The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday continued its raids in south Kashmir and searched five locations in the 2022 militant conspiracy case.
This development comes two days after five places were raided.
As part of its ongoing investigations in the ‘Jammu and Kashmir terrorist conspiracy case’, the agency conducted another round of raids at the premises of hybrid militants and overground workers (OGWs) of the outfits and affiliates of Pakistan-backed banned militant organisations.
“Raids were conducted today at five locations in the three police districts of Shopian, Awantipora and Pulwama,” the agency said in a statement.
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The NIA also raided the premises of alleged 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 agency said that these outfits are affiliated to various banned Pakistan-backed organisations like Laskhar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), Al-Badr, Al-Qaeda, among others.
“Some of these newly floated outfits, The Resistance Front (TRF), a shadow organisation of Lashkar-e-Taiba, have been found issuing threats of carrying out attacks in J&K over the social media,” it said.
The NIA stated that several digital devices containing large volumes of incriminating data were recovered by them during Thursday’s searches.
“These have once again put the spotlight on OGWs as an important part of the terror ecosystem in the Valley, which is being dismantled on a continuous basis. Also known as hybrid terrorists, they provide support to militants and terrorists based in Pakistan,” it said.
The NIA had registered a suo moto case on June 21, 2022, to investigate the involvement of the cadres and OGWs of the various outfits in spreading activities relating to terror, violence and subversion in J&K.
“These cadres and workers have been involved in the collection and distribution of sticky bombs, magnetic bombs, IEDs, funds, narcotic substances and arms and ammunition. NIA investigations have revealed that Pak-based operatives were using social media platforms to promote terror. Drones were being used by them to deliver arms & ammunition, explosives, narcotics etc. to their operatives and cadres in the Kashmir valley,” the agency said.
The alleged conspiracy relates to plotting by the banned outfits in both physical and cyber space to unleash violent militant attacks in J&K with sticky bombs, IEDs and small arms.
On Tuesday, the NIA had raided five different locations in three districts of south Kashmir namely Anantnag, Shopian and Pulwama regarding the case.
The NIA had stated that the Pakistan-backed outfits are also engaged in radicalising local youth and mobilising overground workers, to disturb peace and communal harmony in J&K.
