Pre-dawn CIK raids hit six Kashmir locations in hunt for Pakistan-backed online terror recruitment network

In a coordinated pre-dawn operation on Friday, the Counterintelligence Kashmir (CIK) wing of the Jammu and Kashmir Police conducted searches at six residential locations across four districts in the Valley in connection with a long-running terror recruitment case linked to Pakistan-based handlers.

According to officials, CIK teams targeted houses in Budgam, Srinagar, Bijbehara and Mattan areas of Anantnag, and a village in Pulwama district. The searches were carried out in close coordination with local police and revenue officials, and in the presence of executive magistrates to ensure procedural compliance.

The operation stems from FIR No. 07/2023 registered at Police Station CIK Srinagar. The case involves an alleged terror recruitment module that has been using social media platforms to radicalize and lure Kashmiri youth into the ranks of proscribed terrorist organisations.

Officials said the investigation was launched on the basis of inputs that individuals based in Pakistan, working in collusion with handlers of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and other banned outfits, were systematically using digital platforms to instigate young people against the sovereignty and integrity of India and draw them into terrorist ranks.

This is part of sustained efforts by CIK against online radicalisation networks that have repeatedly surfaced in the Valley. The same FIR has previously led to chargesheets against several accused, including individuals from Budgam, Kupwara and Srinagar, who were allegedly in contact with cross-border handlers and involved in circulating seditious and motivational content aimed at recruitment.

Further details on any recoveries, digital devices seized, or detentions made during Friday’s searches will be shared later, officials said.

The operation underscores the continuing focus on dismantling the digital pipeline that terrorist groups have used to attempt recruitment even as local joining of terror ranks has sharply declined and its remains zero joining this year.

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