NIA raids PFI offices in 15 States over terror funding charges

MULTI-AGENCY teams spearheaded by the NIA arrested 106 functionaries of the radical Islamic outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) on Thursday in near simultaneous raids at 93 locations in 15 States for allegedly supporting terror activities in the country, officials said.

NEW DELHI

Officials described the mega crackdown as the “largest-ever investigation process till date” against the PFI. Kerala, where the PFI has some strong pockets, accounted for the maximum number of 22 arrests, officials said, adding that its chairman O M A Salam was among those arrested.

Maharashtra and Karnataka accounted for 20 arrests each, Tamil Nadu (10), Assam (9), Uttar Pradesh (8), Andhra Pradesh (5), Madhya Pradesh (4), Puducherry and Delhi (3 each) and Rajasthan (2). Details of all the arrested functionaries were not immediately available.

The nationwide raids sparked an angry response from the PFI which called for a dawn-to-dusk hartal in Kerala on Friday and termed the arrest of its leaders as a part of “state-sponsored terrorism.