CNN
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India’s anti-terror company has raided 53 websites throughout seven states and union territories in a crackdown on what it says are “terrorists” and “gangsters,” a few of whom it alleges have hyperlinks to Sikh separatist teams.

The National Investigative Agency (NIA) stated Wednesday it had seized pistols, ammunition and a lot of digital units in the course of the raids, and that amongst these it had detained have been a number of individuals with suspected hyperlinks to “pro-Khalistan” teams.

“Khalistan” is a reference to a separatist motion that seeks to create a homeland for Sikhs within the Punjab area of India.

News of the raid comes as India stays in a tense diplomatic standoff with Canada, following allegations by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that India might have been concerned within the killing in British Columbia of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh Canadian who was a vocal advocate of Khalistan.

India, which has strenuously denied Trudeau’s claims, has beforehand accused Nijjar of being a terrorist with hyperlinks to the Khalistan motion and of “trying to radicalize the Sikh community across the world.”

But it has lengthy accused a number of international international locations of harboring what it describes as Sikh militants inside their diaspora communities.

The NIA stated Wednesday the newest raids “relate to conspiracies of targeted killings, terror funding of pro-Khalistan outfits, extortion, etc. by the gangsters, many of whom are lodged in various jails or are operating from various foreign countries, including Pakistan, Canada, Malaysia, Portugal and Australia.”

“Many of the criminals and gangsters who were earlier leading gangs in India have fled abroad in recent years and are now pursuing their terror and violence related activities from there, as per NIA investigations,” the assertion stated.

“These criminals have been engaged in planning and commissioning serious crimes, including contract and revenge killings, in association with criminals lodged in jails across India,” it added.

The operation spanned the states of Punjab, Harayana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttarakhand, and in addition included the union territories of Delhi and Chandigarh.

New Delhi has responded angrily to Trudeau’s claims and the deepening spat has seen each nations expel senior diplomats in reciprocal strikes, elevating the prospect of an ungainly rift between key companions of the US.

Things escalated additional when India suspended visa companies for Canadian residents over what it stated have been “security threats” in opposition to diplomats in Canada.

Though Modi is but to talk publicly concerning the rising dispute, Indian authorities final week introduced an “intensified crackdown” on what it says is a “Khalistani terrorist campaign.”

Last week, the NIA promised a money reward for 5 people who they accuse of “spreading terror” within the state of Punjab.