Operation Dhvast: NIA raids 324 places in 8 states in terrorist-gangster nexus cases

In a massive day-long operation, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), in coordination with Punjab and Haryana Police, on Wednesday raided 324 locations as part of “Operation Dhvast” in eight states in terrorist-gangster-drug smugglers nexus cases.
The agency seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition, besides other incriminating material in the operation which began around 5.30 am. Several suspects were detained during the raids, conducted in Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Chandigarh and Madhya Pradesh.
While NIA conducted search operations in 129 places, Punjab Police launched searches at 143 places in 17 districts and Haryana Police raided 52 locations in 10 districts simultaneously.

The day-long searches were aimed at breaking the terror nexus of Arsh Dalla, a designated terrorist, apart from dreaded gangsters such as Lawrence Bishnoi, Chhenu Pehalwan, Deepak Teetar, Bhupi Rana, Vikash Lagarpuriya, Ashish Choudhary, Gurpreet Sekhon, Dilpreet Baba, Harsimrat Simma and Anuradha, said the NIA.

“The focus of today’s raids was on weapon suppliers, financiers, logistic providers and hawala operators associated with the hardcore gangs working with drug smugglers and terrorists based out of other countries like Pakistan and Canada,” the Central anti-terror agency said.
The raiding parties seized a pistol, assorted ammunition (both live and used cartridges), in addition to 60 mobile phones, five DVRs, 20 SIM cards, one hard disk, one pen drive, one dongle, one WiFi router, a digital watch, two memory cards, 75 documents and Rs 39, 60,000 in cash.

These were the sixth in the series of such crackdowns launched by the NIA following the registration of three cases since August 2022 of conspiracies related to targeted killings, terror funding of pro-Khalistan outfits and extortion.
The sensational killing of Maharashtra builder Sanjay Biyani and international Kabaddi player Sandeep Nangal Ambia in Punjab last year is notable among these cases.

NIA investigations have revealed that the conspiracies were being hatched in jails of different states and were being executed by an organized network of operatives based abroad.
“The spotlight on these gangs has become sharper after reports of several prisons becoming havens of the deadly nexus and hubs of gang wars, which recently resulted in violence and murder inside Goindwal Jail and Tihar Jail”, said the NIA.

The NIA has further found that many criminals, who were leading the gangsters in India, had fled to countries like Pakistan, Canada, Malaysia and Australia, from where they have been engaged in planning serious crimes in association with criminals lodged in jails across India.
“These groups were carrying out targeted killings and raising funds for their nefarious activities through smuggling of drugs and weapons, hawala and extortion”, one of the NIA officials said.

Abohar, Moga, Fazilka, Ludhiana, Mohali, Ferozpur, Tarn Taran, Ludhiana, Faridkot, Roopnagar, Nawashahar, Ferozpur, Amritsar, Patiala, Bernala and Jalandhar districts of Punjab, Gurugram, Yamuna Nagar, Ambala, Rohtak, Sirsa, Kurukshetra and Jhajjar districts of Haryana, Sri Ganga Nagar, Churu, Bikaner and Jaipur districts of Rajasthan; Baghpat, Meerut and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, Bhind and Barwani districts of Madhya Pradesh, besides Dwarka, North, North-east, South-east, South, Outer and Outer North districts of Delhi and NCR are some of the locations where raids were conducted on Wednesday.

The NIA had previously conducted searches at 231 locations and seized 38 arms, including 4 lethal weapons, along with 1,129 rounds of ammunition. It has so far frozen 87 bank accounts and attached 13 properties, besides seizing 331 digital devices, 418 documents and two vehicles.
Two absconders have been declared as designated individual terrorists, and NBWs have been issued against 10 persons and Look Out Circulars against 14 others.

“Further investigations are on to dismantle such terror networks as well as their funding and support infrastructure,” added the NIA.