NIA probing cases against India from foreign soil, human trafficking: Govt in RS

National Investigation Agency (NIA) is probing foreign links to terror acts, human trafficking and terror financing emanating from foreign soil, Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. Referring to the NIA (Amendment) Act, 2019, he said the agency has been empowered to investigate terrorist acts on Indian missions abroad as part of the dispensation’s commitment to zero-tolerance towards terrorism.

In reply to supplementary questions during Question Hour in the Upper House, Rai said during the investigation of cases in the last year, NIA has found that the accused were based outside India’s borders.

In many cases, the conspiracy was hatched abroad or the act was committed on Indian consulates abroad. He said the NIA was given powers to probe such cases, including making and sale of prohibited weapons, explosives as well as use of cyber technology to commit crimes from other countries against India and Indians through the 2019 amendment.

“The NIA is investigating six cases that took place outside the country, including the attacks on Indian High Commissions in London and Ottawa and the Indian consulate in San Francisco.

It is handling 23 cases of human trafficking, 23 cases of bomb blasts and one on cybercrime. This has helped in bringing down the cases of terror acts,” Rai said.

Following the recent deportation of illegal Indian immigrants from the US, he said the NIA had interviewed many of them and several details of the methods used for human trafficking have come to light.