The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday said it has arrested nine persons, including five during the searches conducted in Srinagar, in the Jammu & Kashmir terrorism conspiracy case.

The five arrested accused persons are Md Haneef Chiralu (Srinagar) Hafeez (Budgam), Owais Dar (Pulwama), Mateen Bhat (Shopian), and Arif Farooq Bhat (Srinagar).

The arrests came close on the heels of searches at 16 locations in Kashmir on Tuesday. The NIA had registered the case on Sunday. During the searches, the agency seized several electronic devices, incriminating jehadi documents, and records of suspicious financial transactions.

The case relates to the conspiracy for conducting violent terrorist acts in Jammu & Kashmir and other major cities by the cadre of proscribed terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), and their affiliates Al Badr, The Resistance Front (TRF), People Against Fascist Forces (PAFF) and Mujahideen Ghazwat-ul Hind (MGH) among others.

The agency had on Tuesday conducted searches at 16 locations in Srinagar, Pulwama, and Shopian districts and arrested four accused persons. The arrested accused are Waseem Ahmed Sofi of Chattabal, Srinagar, Tariq Ahmed Dar of Shergarhi, Srinagar, Bilal Ahmed Mir alias Bilal Fufu of Parimpora, Srinagar, and Tariq Ahmed Bafanda of Rajauri Kadal in Srinagar.

The agency was pursuing a case on the intelligence input regarding hatching of conspiracy both physically and in cyberspace for undertaking violent terrorist acts in Jammu & Kashmir and other major cities of India, including New Delhi,   by the cadres of proscribed terrorist organisations LeT, JeM, HM, Al Badr and similar other outfits and their affiliates such as the TRF and PAFF among others, the NIA said in a statement.

 “The terror associates/OGWs (overground workers) of these organisations are conspiring with their handlers and commanders based in a neighbouring country and also indulging in radicalization of local youth for the purpose of recruiting and training them in the handling of arms, ammunition and explosives,” it said.

These terrorists and cadres have conducted several terrorist acts, including killings of numerous innocent civilians and security personnel, unleashing a reign of terror in the valley of Kashmir, thereby challenging the writ of the State, it said.

 “Preliminary investigation has revealed that arrested accused persons are terror associates/OGWs of various proscribed terrorist organisations and have been providing logistical and material support to terrorists and facilitating them in their nefarious designs and carrying out terror activities,” it added.