The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is currently conducting searches at over 100 locations in six states including Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Madhya Pradesh. These searches are part of the agency’s efforts to uncover the nexus between terrorists, narcotics smugglers, and gangsters. The NIA is working in close coordination with state police forces and began the searches early on Wednesday.
The searches are related to three separate cases registered by the NIA last year under the references RC 37, 38, 39/2022/NIA/DLI. In one of these cases, Deepak Ranga, the main shooter involved in the RPG attack on Punjab Police Intelligence Headquarters in Mohali in May 2022, was arrested on January 25. Ranga, who was apprehended in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur, was a close associate of gangster-turned-terrorists Lakhbir Singh Sandhu alias Landa and Harvinder Singh Sandhu alias Rinda, both based in Canada and Pakistan respectively.
Deepak Ranga has been involved in various violent terrorist and criminal activities, including targeted killings. He has reportedly received support and funds from Landa and Rinda for his operations. The NIA initiated the case on September 20, 2022, after discovering the collaboration between foreign-based terrorist outfits, terror elements, and leaders of organized criminal gangs. The investigation revealed their involvement in targeted killings, violent crimes, and smuggling of terrorist hardware such as arms, ammunition, explosives, and IEDs across borders.
The NIA’s searches are focused on dismantling the extensive inter-state network involved in illegal arms and ammunition manufacturing, supply, gun running, and explosive trafficking. The agency aims to uncover evidence and disrupt the operations of the terror-gangster-drug smuggler network that poses a significant threat to national security.
The searches conducted by the NIA are a crucial step in identifying and neutralizing the individuals and networks involved in this nexus, ensuring the safety and well-being of the public, and maintaining law and order in the affected states.
