NIA attaches arms smuggler’s house

Srinagar, January 6

Continuing with its crackdown on militants, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday attached a residential house of a key conspirator in an arms smuggling case.

The sleuths of the central agency in the morning arrived at the house of Aamir Mushtaq Ganaie of Chanapora locality in Srinagar, where several pistols were seized last year.

“The property of accused Aamir Mushtaq Ganaie, identified as one of the masterminds in the case RC -4/22/NIA/JMU, was attached today as ‘proceeds of terrorism’ by an NIA team in Kiran Colony in Chanapora region of Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir,” a spokesperson of the NIA said.

“The accused had used the proceeds of terror for conspiring and committing terror crimes against the nation,” NIA said.

According to NIA investigations, Ganaie and his associates were cadres of ‘The Resistance Front (TRF)’, an offshoot of the proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit. They were associated with their Pakistan-based handlers / operative / commanders of LeT/TRF.

The case was part of a larger conspiracy relating to drone dropping of weapons and money by a Pakistan-based module operating in J&K, investigations have revealed, the NIA officials said.

“The kingpin in the case, Faisal Muneer, was earlier arrested and charge-sheeted by the NIA, which found him to be involved in receiving weapon consignments sent from across the border by Sajjad Gul, alias Hamza,” the NIA said.

After receiving these weapons, Faisal used to deliver them in Srinagar to Ganaie, who further distributed them to active cadres of TRF/LeT for the purpose of carrying out targeted killings in J&K with the aim of spreading terror among the people, the NIA said.

“The accused were also engaged in radicalising, motivating and instigating vulnerable youth to join TRF/LeT and other terror outfits in Kashmir,” NIA said.

Besides arms and ammunition, NIA investigators say they have recovered several incriminating materials, including chats about terror funds, from the mobile phones of the accused persons.

The NIA spokesperson said the central agency has established that the accused had been carrying out terrorist activities for a long time, thereby threatening the security, integrity and sovereignty of the country.

The NIA had taken over the case, initially registered by Chanapora police in May 2022, and re-registered it at the agency’s Jammu branch office on June 18 2022.

The central probe agency said it intends to intensify its efforts to dismantle all terror networks and demolish their support infrastructure by attaching and seizing their properties in the coming days.

Cross-border weapon trade

• The NIA in its statement said kingpin in the case, Faisal Muneer, was earlier arrested and charge-sheeted by the NIA, which found him to be involved in receiving weapon consignments sent from across the border by Sajjad Gul, alias Hamza
• After receiving the weapons, Muneer used to deliver them in Srinagar to Aamir Mushtaq Ganaie, who further distributed them to active cadres or terrorists of ‘The Resistance Front’, an offshoot of the proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba outfit to carry out targeted killings to spread terror