The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday was conducting raids at 16 different locations in coastal Karnataka simultaneously.

The raids were conducted with the assistance of local authorities, and were underway at Belthangady, Puttur and Bantwal of Dakshina Kannada district.

According to sources, the raids were conducted to track down hawala transactions of some local suspects from the Gulf nations. The money transactions had been made allegedly to carry out terrorist and anti-national activities, sources said.

The sources said that the NIA crackdown was to break the hawala network of banned organisation, the Popular Front of India (PFI).

The investigation trail of the Phulwari Sharif terror module case which came to light in Patna, Bihar has reached the coastal Karnataka region.

Earlier, NIA had arrested Mohammad Sinon, a Bantwal resident, Sarfaraz Nawaz and Iqbal from Sajipa Mooda, Abdul Rafeeq from Puttur in this connection.

More details are awaited.

(The story has been published via a syndicated feed.)