NIA Cracks Down on Terror Network with Sweeping Raids in J&K

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) launched a series of raids on Thursday across 32 locations in Jammu and Kashmir, intensifying its crackdown on a Pakistan-backed plot to incite terror in the region. These coordinated operations, which span different districts of the Union Territory, commenced early in the morning based on specific intelligence pertaining to a 2022 case, sources told ANI.

Officials have confirmed that the raids focus on Overground Workers (OGWs) associated with several terrorist organizations within the RC-05/2022/NIA/JMU case. This maneuver is part of an ongoing strategy to dismantle terror networks in Jammu Province and to prevent banned entities from disrupting peace and communal harmony by radicalizing young residents and mobilizing OGWs.

On May 11 of the previous year, the NIA undertook similar operations in six locations across Jammu to combat a conspiracy involving banned terrorist organizations and their extensions, aimed at executing violent attacks using sticky bombs, IEDs, and small arms. The raids led to the seizure of critical materials, including digital devices and documents, from the premises of hybrid terrorists, sympathizers, and affiliates of notorious groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), Al-Badr, and Al-Qaeda.

The NIA registered a suo moto case on June 21, 2022, to incapacitate the terror network orchestrated by these outfits and their new extensions like 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, PAAF, among others. In recent months, the agency has continued to target various locations as part of its ongoing investigations, a spokesperson revealed.

(With inputs from agencies.)