Sleuths of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on July 23 raided the premises of the Parimpora Fruit Mandi in Srinagar and the house of a cross-Line of Control (LoC) trader in south Kashmir’s Pulwama.

A team searched the house of Ghulam Ahmad Wani alias Bardana at Achgoza Keller, Pulwama, in the morning, police sources said. He was associated with the now-halted cross-LoC trade in J&K. Another NIA team searched the premises of the Parimpora Fruit Mandi, which is the main wholesale market in the city.

The Ministry of Home Affairs on April 18 this year suspended the trade citing “funnelling of illegal weapons, narcotics and fake currency” as reasons.

The decision followed the investigations carried out by the NIA, which suggested a significant number of trading concerns engaged in cross-LoC trade were being operated by persons “closely associated with banned terrorist organisations”.