The National Investigation Agency (NIA) scaled up its crackdown against terror networks this year, conducting over 1000 raids after registering 68 cases and arresting 625 accused across the country, an official said on Sunday.
The anti-terror federal agency also achieved a stupendous 94.70 per cent conviction rate with 74 accused sentenced in various cases, the official said.
The official said another highlight of the NIA action in 2023 was multiple raids conducted to identify suspects behind the attacks on High Commissions of India in Ottawa and London and Consulate General in San Francisco that involved criminal trespass, vandalism, damage to public property, and attempts to cause hurt to Indian officials and damage the Consulate building through arson.
The agency identified 43 suspects behind these attacks using several innovative methods of investigation, including crowd-sourcing of information while investigating the larger conspiracy.
“The attacks on the High Commissions of India in Ottawa and London, as well as on the Consulate General of India, San Francisco, USA, also remained the focus of the NIA actions offences against Indian interests abroad through the year, which witnessed more than 50 raids and searches as part of the agency’s efforts to unravel the conspiracy behind the attacks on Indian Missions abroad,” the NIA Spokesperson said.
She said the NIA has stepped up its investigation in these cases in recent months and examined more than 80 persons in India suspected to be part of the conspiracy.
Besides getting five of India’s most wanted, including Arsh Dala and Rinda, listed as “individual terrorists”, four terror outfits were banned by the Centre in 2023 on NIA’s proposal, the official said.
The official said a total of 68 cases were registered this year as the agency went against ‘Jihadis’, operatives of terrorist outfits active in Punjab, Naxals and gangsters in a big way in 2023.
These cases encompass 18 Jihadi terror cases in multiple states, three cases from Jammu and Kashmir, 12 cases of LWE, seven cases involving terrorist and organised criminal activity in Punjab, five cases of the Northeast, and two cases related to Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN).
A total of 1040 pan-India searches and raids were conducted in the outgoing year against 957 the previous year, leading to the arrest of 625 accused - 28 per cent more than 490 arrested in 2022, the agency said, adding the arrested include 47 absconders, including five deported from the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The agency arrested 65 accused in ISIS cases, 114 arrested for jihadi terror cases, 45 accused of human trafficking cases, 28 accused of terrorist and organized criminal activity and 76 accused of Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) cases.
As many as 513 accused were chargesheeted during 2023, against 459 in 2022, the official said.
The agency said Rs 56 crore worth of assets belonging to the accused and suspects were attached as part of a strategy to squeeze terror funding and dismantle transnational terror-criminal networks.
“In 2022, the agency had attached a total of 37 properties worth Rs. 10.53 crore, while in 2023, the figure went up to 240 (including 156 bank accounts) with a total value of Rs. 55.90 crore.
“These properties belonged to the accused and suspects involved in terrorism, LWE, explosives and other prominent cases. The attachments, made under various provisions of UA(P)A, included 12 properties (of which four were bank accounts), worth Rs. 1.5 crore, of six listed ‘Individual Terrorists’,” she said.
The NIA achieved a “stupendous” 94.70 per cent conviction rate, with 74 accused sentenced in various cases in the outgoing year, the official said
“The number of persons chargesheeted and convicted stood, respectively, at 513 and 74, as against 459 and 79 in 2022. The 74 accused convicted during 2023 were sentenced to various quantums of ‘Rigorous Imprisonment’ and ‘Fines’ as punishment,” she said. The agency said massive crackdowns across states were conducted to bust ISIS and Hizb-ut-Tahrir terror modules.
A two-day anti-terror conference was organised in November to strengthen, synchronise and boost nationwide response to terror, the official said.
The agency arrested 47 suspects, 14 more than the last year, who were on the run.
“One of the biggest breakthroughs in this regard came with the arrest of a key absconding accused in the Attari border heroin seizure case, involving smuggling of over 102 kgs of the narcotics from Afghanistan via the India-Pak border.
“Also, arrests made upon deportation and extradition signify NIA’s commitment to pursuing offenders across its international borders. While Amritpal Singh alias Ammy, Amrik Singh, Manpreet Singh alias Peeta and Mandeep Singh were deported from the Philippines, Vikram Brar was arrested upon deportation from the UAE,” she said.
