In a massive crackdown on the terrorist-gangster-narco nexus, the NIA along with Punjab and Haryana police on Wednesday raided 324 locations in nine states and Union territories under "Operation Dhvast", the agency said.

During the day-long raids in Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Chandigarh and Madhya Pradesh, arms and ammunition, incriminating material and Rs 39 lakh were seized, a spokesperson of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said.

While the NIA raided 129 locations, the Punjab Police raided 143 places in 17 districts and the Haryana Police 52 locations in 10 districts, the official said and added that the raids simultaneously began at 5:30 am.

"Several suspects were detained during the raids, conducted as part of 'Operation Dhvast'...," the spokesperson said.

The NIA said the raids were aimed at breaking the terror nexus of designated terrorist Arsh Dalla, and dreaded gangsters such as Lawrence Bishnoi, Chhenu Pehalwan, Deepak Teetar, Bhupi Rana, Vikash Lagarpuriya, ashish Choudhary, Gurpreet Sekhon, Dilpreet Baba, Harsimrat Simma and Anuradha.

"The focus of today's raids was on weapon suppliers, financiers, logistic providers and Hawala operators associated with the hardcore gangs working with drug smugglers and terrorists based out of other countries such as Pakistan and Canada," the spokesperson said.

The official said the raiding parties have seized a pistol, assorted ammunition (both live and used cartridges), 60 mobile phones, five DVRs, 20 SIM cards, a hard disk, a pen drive, a dongle, a WiFi router, a digital watch, two memory cards, 75 documents and over Rs 39.60 lakh.

These was the sixth in a series of crackdowns launched by the NIA following the registration of three cases since august last year pertaining to conspiracies related to targeted killings, terror funding of pro-Khalistan outfits, and extortion.

Among these cases are the sensational killing of Maharashtra builder Sanjay Biyani and international kabaddi player Sandeep Nangal ambia in Punjab last year.

The spokesperson said investigations have revealed that the conspiracies were being hatched in jails of different states and being executed by an organised network of operatives based abroad.

"The spotlight on these gangs has become sharper after reports of several prisons becoming havens of the deadly nexus and hubs of gang wars, which recently resulted in violence and murder inside the Goindwal Jail and the Tihar Jail," the official said.

The spokesperson said the agency has found that many criminals, who were leading gangsters in India, had fled to countries such as Pakistan, Canada, Malaysia and australia. From there, they were engaged in planning serious crimes in association with criminals lodged in jails across India, the official said.

"These groups were carrying out targeted killings and raising funds for their nefarious activities through smuggling of drugs and weapons, Hawala and extortions," the NIA spokesperson said.

The agency had previously conducted raids at 231 locations and seized 38 arms, including four lethal weapons, along with 1,129 rounds of ammunition.

It has, so far, frozen 87 bank accounts and attached 13 properties, besides seizing 331 digital devices, 418 documents and two vehicles.

Two absconders have been declared as designated individual terrorists, and non-bailable warrants have been issued against 10 people and look out circulars against 14 others.

"Further investigations underway on to dismantle such terror networks as well as their funding and support infrastructure," the spokesperson said.

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