NIA conducts searches in al-Qaeda case

The case pertained to Umar Halmandi, an al-Qaeda operative: NIA

The National Investigation Agency on Thursday conducted searches in five locations in Kashmir’s Shopian and Budgam districts in a case related to the al-Qaeda filed in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.

“During the searches, large number of incriminating documents and digital devices have been seized,” a NIA spokesman said.

The NIA said the case pertained to Umar Halmandi, an al-Qaeda operative, who, along with other accused, had been radicalising and recruiting vulnerable persons for AQIS (Al-Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent) and trying to raise Ansaar Gazwatul Hind (AGH) to carry out terrorist acts, for which they had already arranged arms and explosive substances.

The case was registered in July by the NIA.