Terror funding case: NIA raids multiple locations across J&K

According to sources, the raids were being carried out were linked to the terror funding case filed against the network of Over Ground Workers (OGWs) here.

Jammu:Days after five Army personnel were killed in an encounter with terrorists in Rajouri district, National Investigation Agency is carrying out raids across Jammu and Kashmir in connection with a terror funding case, officials said. Sources said the multiple raids were being carried out in Shopian, Anantnag, Kulgam, and Poonch among others.

Sources indicated that they were going after the terror funding network of the Over Ground Workers (OGWs) in the region. The fresh NIA raids come a week after the federal investigating agency carried out raids at multiple locations across the union territory in a militancy case. The raids were conducted on Tuesday, May 2 at at least 12 locations across the union territory in Awantipora, Pulwama, Anantnag and Srinagar in the Kashmir valley. In Jammu region, the raids were conducted in Jammu and Poonch districts.

In Poonch district in particular, the NIA detained a woman identified as Shanaz Akhter, a resident of Khanater area of the district. Asper a NIA spokesman, the raids were conducted in connection with a case registered last year to unearth “criminal conspiracy for carrying out terrorist and subversive activities hatched by the cadres and Overground Workers of various proscribed organizations and their affiliates or off-shoots, operating under various pseudo names, at the behest of their Pakistani handlers”.

The raids also come while the security forces continued "Operation Trinetra" for the fourth consecutive day on Monday hoping to track down terrorists who were believed to be holed up in the Kandi forest area in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, where a quintet from the Armed forces were killed in a blast during an encounter.

According to the armed forces, a few persons were questioned during the operation regarding the suspected movements of terrorists. The suspected terrorists have not established any fresh contact with the armed forces since the Friday blast reported in Rajouri.

"There was no fresh contact with terrorists hiding in the forested Kandi area. A massive search operation to track down ultras is on," an official privy to the operation said. On Friday, five Army personnel were killed and a major-rank officer was injured after an explosion was triggered by the terrorists during the routine search operation in the Kesari hill forest area of Rajouri.

The security forces carrying out the search operation have deployed surveillance equipment, sniffer dogs, drones and metal detectors in the area to prevent any untoward incidents. A three tier security-cum-cordons have been activated in and around the forest lands which were zeroed in as suspected hiding areas of the terrorists in the Kandi forest.

About a decade ago, the government had declared Rajouri and Poonch districts in Jammu region as terrorism-free. These districts have been rocked by a series of deadly attacks since October 2021, resulting in the killing of 35 people, including 26 personnel from the security forces.