The counter-intelligence wing of the Jammu and Kashmir Police on Friday conducted searches at multiple locations across Kashmir in connection with cases linked to terrorism, police said.
Officials said the operation was aimed at uncovering crucial evidence, curbing illicit activities, preventing the misuse of communication devices such as mobile phones, and dismantling the terror ecosystem in the Union Territory by identifying terrorist associates and overground workers (OGWs) allegedly supporting and abetting terrorism, and also ensuring legal action against them.
Counter Intelligence Kashmir on Friday said that during the investigation, various suspects were found using a “specific encrypted messaging application”, which is widely used by “terrorists/handlers” from across the border for “coordinating and executing a variety of terrorist-related activities, including recruitment into terrorist ranks”.
These users, police said, are suspected to be in touch with suspicious entities across the border. “As such, maintaining the element of surprise, the searches were meticulously planned and conducted,” officials said.
During raids, “incriminating material” in the form of SIM cards, mobile phones, tablets and other digital devices that have a bearing on the case have been recovered. Analysis of the data will follow and leads that may emerge will become the basis for further investigation, a CIK official said.
However, no arrests were made on Friday.
The searches come as security agencies step up anti-terror operations across and Kashmir in the aftermath of the April 22 terror attack in south Kashmir’s Pahalgam. In the attack, 25 tourists and one local man were shot dead.
In response, the armed forces carried out Operation Sindoor, targeting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. This was followed by days of cross-border tensions and shelling, in which several civilians living in border areas in J&K lost their lives.
