NIA conducts searches in 19 locations linked to Jaish-e-Mohammad terror plot in J&K, UP, Bihar, Bengal and other states

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday searched 19 locations across India as a part of an investigation into a terror plot linked to the Pakistan-based group Jaish-e-Mohammad. The searches took place in Assam, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Jammu and Kashmir, according to the NIA.

Several incriminating documents and electronic devices, including mobile phones, pen drives, CDs and hard disks were seized, it said.

According to a statement by the NIA, the searches were conducted at the premises of suspects/close aides of Sheikh Sultan Salah Uddin Ayubi, a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) operative who was arrested on account of his incriminatory role in the case.

Ayubi was taken into custody in October this year for disseminating propaganda material associated with JeM, and radicalising and recruiting youth into the Jamaat outfit inspired by JeM, the statement said.

The locations at which the searches were conducted were Goalpara in Assam; Aurangabad, Mumbai and Amravati in Maharashtra; Jhansi, Bareilly, Deoband and Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh; Sitamarhi in Bihar, Hooghly in West Bengal; Baramulla, Reasi, Budgam and Anantnag in Jammu and Kashmir; Dungarpur in Rajasthan; and Mehsana in Gujarat, it said.