NIA conducts raids in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch in cross-LoC trade case

Srinagar: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted raids in nine places in Poonch district of Jammu on Sunday in connection with a case regarding cross Line of Control (LoC) trade registered in 2016.

Searches were conducted at the premises of suspected LoC traders and documents, digital devices and other incriminating materials were recovered from them, said the NIA. The agency registered a case under section 17 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act concerning raising of illegal funds.

The NIA said the case is related to the large-scale transfer of funds from Pakistan to India through the import of California almonds and other items via the cross-LoC trade facilitation centres located at Salamabad in Uri area of Baramulla district in northern Kashmir and Chakkan-Da-Bag area of Poonch district in Jammu.


"These funds were purportedly being used for fomenting terrorism/separatism in J&K... some of the traders having excess imports were channelising the surplus profit generated to terror organisations while others are suspected to have links and connections with proscribed terrorist organisations," read an official statement.

The cross-LoC trade was started in 2008 as a part of a confidence-building measure between India and Pakistan. The trade was based on a barter system of selected 21 products and third-party origin goods were not allowed.

The trade survived for over a decade and was conducted for four days a week with around 70 trucks exchanged every day, until it was suspended in April 2019. The official data reveals that between 2008 and 2019, trade of about ₹7,500 crore was recorded across LoC, generating more than 170,000 job days, and freight revenue of about ₹66 crore for transporters in J&K.