NIA launches multiple raids in J-K over Pak-backed terror conspiracy case

Srinagar: National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday launched searches at 15 locations across Jammu and Kashmir in a Pakistan-backed terror conspiracy case, an official said.

Searches in the house of suspects at four locations in Anantnag, three in Shopian, two each in Budgam, Srinagar and Poonch and one each in Baramulla and Rajouri were underway, the official said.

According to the official, the case, registered last year, relates to hatching a conspiracy, both physical and in cyberspace and plans by proscribed terrorist organisations to execute violent militant attacks in Jammu and Kashmir with sticky bombs, IEDs and small arms.

The plans are part of a larger conspiracy by the terrorist groups to commit terror acts in association with local youths and overground workers to create communal disharmony in the Union Territory, the official said.

The official said the terrorist outfits involved in the conspiracy were Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Al-Badr, and al-Qaeda, besides their offshoots such as The Resistance Front, United Liberation Front Jammu and Kashmir, Mujahideen Gazwat-ul-Hind, Jammu and Kashmir Freedom Fighters, Kashmir Tigers and People's Anti-Fascist Front.

According to the NIA, the initial investigations by it indicated that the workers and cadre of the outfits were involved in the collection and distribution of sticky bombs or magnetic bombs, IEDs, cash, narcotics and small weapons.

These weapons, bombs and narcotics were being pushed in India by Pakistan-based handlers and commanders of proscribed terrorist organisations using drones to the terrorists active in Kashmir, the federal agency said.