NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday conducted searches at 51 locations in three separate cases linked to the terrorist-gangster-smuggler nexus.
The raids were conducted simultaneously on the premises and suspected locations of the associates of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, Bambiha and terrorist Arshdeep Singh Dala gangs.
According to the NIA, the raids are still under way in three cases.
As per agency sources, the raids are being carried out at nearly 30 locations in Punjab as well as the remaining locations in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR).
Separate NIA teams started raids early on Wednesday morning in close coordination with state police forces.
The NIA had registered a suo moto case on August 20, 2022, under various sections of the IPC and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in connection with the terror activities of banned terrorist organisations in India. The agency has been cracking down on individual terrorist outfits and terrorists conspiring to smuggle terrorist hardware, such as arms, ammunition and explosives and raising funds for carrying out terrorist acts in India.
The NIA investigations in the case had revealed that several gangsters having nexus with terrorist Arshdeep Singh Dala had entered into a criminal conspiracy to raise funds for Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), a banned terrorist organisation. They were also engaged in smuggling of arms, ammunition and explosives for the KTF from across the border.
Dala who has been operating from Canada for the last four years and has had many terrorist killings in Punjab over the last few years. He has been guiding and commissioning terrorist acts and also promoting terror, violence and large-scale extortion in India on behalf of the KTF.
Other two cases are also linked to the gangster-terror nexus naming gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, Goly Brar, Vikram Brar and others in which the accused are charged for assisting and facilitating different gangs in targeted killings and extortions in Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab. The NIA has so far arrested 16 people in the terror gangster conspiracy case.