NIA conducts raids in Kashmir, Delhi over terror funding

The NIA, which had earlier registered a Preliminary Enquiry, converted it into a Regular Case (RC) last evening and began searches in the wee hours at the residences of second-rung separatist leaders in the Valley.

Around eight hawala dealers and traders in the national capital were also raided, official sources said.

Among those raided were close aides and kins of hardline separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani and others in the Hurriyat Conference.

Two places in Sonepat were also being searched by the NIA teams in this connection.

The raids follow questioning of three separatist - Nayeem Khan, who was seen on television during a sting operation purportedly confessing to receiving money from Pakistan-based terror groups, Farooq Ahmed Dar alias 'Bitta Karate' and Gazi Javed Baba of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, in the national capital last month.

The separatists were allegedly receiving funds from the chief of Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT), Hafiz Saeed, to carry out subversive activities in the Kashmir Valley, including pelting stones at security forces, damaging public property and burning schools and other government establishments.