National Investigation Agency (NIA) held raids across Kerala at the houses of the former leaders of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI), during the wee hours of Thursday, December 29. Raids were conducted in as many as 58 places in the state. The raids, which started on Wednesday night, went on till the next day, sources in the Kerala police said. "They came unexpectedly. However, they conducted raids, and we cooperated with them. They have taken my mobile phone and some magazines from my house. They haven't found anything illegal. PFI is no longer functioning as it is banned," Thonnakkal Navaz, a former PFI leader from Thiruvananthapuram told media.
The officials conducted raids in almost all districts in the state. Houses of at least three leaders were raided in each district. In Pathanamthitta district, there were reports that the leaders received prior information on raids and they were not at their houses. Unlike previous NIA raids, this time they had incorporated the Kerala police as well in the raid operation.
Multi-agency teams spearheaded by the NIA had arrested several functionaries including top leaders of the radical Islamic outfit in September in near simultaneous raids at multiple locations in 15 states for allegedly supporting terror activities in the country. Officials then had described the mega crackdown as the "largest-ever investigation process till date" against the PFI. Following this, the outfit was banned by the Union government for five years.