2023 in Crackdowns: NIA Scaled New Heights, Busted Extremists, Terror Outfits in Punjab, Naxals, Gangsters

The National Investigation Agency, India’s counter-terrorism organisation, scaled new heights in 2023 with crackdowns on extremists, operatives of terrorist outfits in Punjab, Naxals, gangsters among others

Let’s take a look at the law enforcement agency’s 10 achievements in 2023:

1. It managed to nab Arshdeep Singh alias Arsh Dala, Pak-based terrorist Harwinder Singh Rinda and three others listed as “individual terrorists”.
2. Multiple raids were conducted to identify suspects in attacks on the high commissions of India in Canada’s Ottawa and UK capital London, as well as the Consulate General of India in USA’s San Francisco.
3. Assets worth Rs 56 crore were attached as part of a strategy to squeeze terror funding and dismantle transnational terror-criminal networks.
4. The NIA achieved a stupendous 94.70 percent conviction rate, with 74 accused sentenced in different cases.
5. On the NIA’s proposal, the central government banned four terror outfits in 2023.
6. Pan-India searches and raids went up from 957 in 2022 to 1,040 in 2023.
7. There was a massive crackdown across states to bust IS and Hizb-ut-Tahrir modules.
8. The NIA registered 68 cases in total and arrested 625 accused, which is 28 percent more than 490 arrested in 2022. These arrests included 47 accused on the run, including five deported from the Philippines and United Arab Emirates.
9. A total of 513 accused were chargesheeted in 2023, as against 459 in 2022.
10. The agency also organised the Anti-Terror Conference on November 5 and 6 to strengthen, synchronise and boost nationwide response to terror.