New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency, on Tuesday, carried out searches in four states and a Union Territory as part of an ongoing probe into a terrorist-gangster nexus. The agency conducted searches at 30 locations across Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and the Union Territory of Chandigarh in relation to a case involving designated terrorist Arshdeep Singh aka Arsh Dala and other suspects of the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF). The premises raided by the NIA were linked to the various associates of Dala, besides those linked to Baljeet Maur and Gurjant Singh. 

The effort led to the succesful recovery of incriminating materials including digital devices.  

The NIA said the suspects whose premises were raided had been working for these three men to promote violent criminal activities, and had been involved in smuggling weapons from Pakistan and recruitment of youth to carry out acts of terror in the country at the behest of the KTF.

“These associates were also part of an extortion racket for raising funds for the banned outfit. They used to identify extortion targets, including businessmen, and then threaten them into parting with huge amounts,” the spokesperson said.

The case, registered on February 13, relates to nefarious criminal activities of the KTF and other terror outfits, including smuggling of dangerous hardware, such as arms, ammunition, explosives, improvised explosive devices and narcotics across international borders.

According to NIA investigations, the smuggled items were meant for use by the operatives of terror outfits and organised criminal gangs operating in various parts of the country for carrying out various terrorist acts, such as extortions to raise funds for KTF, targeted killings, recruitment of vulnerable youth, smuggling of arms and narcotics to India.

The investigations have further revealed that Dala, Maur and Singh had conspired to carry out such activities for furthering their terror agenda, the spokesperson said.

With inputs from PTI.