The National Investigation Agency, NIA today carried out searches at 23 locations in Kashmir, Delhi and Haryana in connection with terror funding in the Kashmir Valley. <br/><br/>The NIA, which had earlier registered a Preliminary Enquiry, converted it into a regular case last evening and began searches in the wee hours.<br/><br/>An official source said, around eight hawala dealers and traders in the national capital were raided, besides two in Sonepat, Haryana.<br/><br/>Among those raided by the NIA in Srinagar were Altaf Fantoosh, the son-in-law of hardline leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, and some second rung separatist leaders belonging to Hurriyat Conference and the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front. The agency seized nearly 1.5 crore rupees from various locations in the Kashmir Valley, besides documents which were being scrutinised. <br/><br/>Our correspondent reports, this is for the first time since early 1990s that a central probe agency has carried out raids in connection with terror funding to separatists.<br/><br/>The raids follow questioning of three separatists – Nayeem Khan, Farooq Ahmed Dar alias 'Bitta Karate' and Gazi Javed Baba of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, in the national capital last month. <br/><br/>During a sting operation, Nayeem Khan was seen purportedly confessing to receiving money from Pakistan-based terror groups.