Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yasin Malik was on Thursday arrested while Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was put under house arrest, a day ahead of the planned sit-in by the separatists outside the National Investigation Agency headquarter in Delhi.

Malik was taken into custody from Srinagar and shifted to Central Jail till September 11, officials said.

They said the Mirwaiz was placed under house arrest to prevent the separatist leaders from going to Delhi tomorrow.

Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani is under house arrest for the past several years now.

Malik, Geelani and Mirwaiz yesterday announced that they will hold a dharna outside the NIA office in Delhi and court arrest against the alleged harassment by the NIA.

The NIA has recently been conducting raids and arresting people associated with the separatist leaders in connection with alleged money laundering and some other cases.

On Thursday, the NIA carried out searches at 10 places in Jammu and Kashmir and the national capital region in connection with its probe into the funding of terror and subversive activities in the Kashmir Valley and seized three arms from a close aide of separatist Shabir Shah.

Continuing with its raids in various parts of the Valley, Jammu, Delhi and Gurgaon, the NIA conducted searches at 10 locations, which included the ancestral residence of G N Sumji, a leader of the pro-Pakistan faction of the Hurriyat Conference, officials said.

This is for the first time the National Investigation Agency has made inroads into South Kashmir, which is considered as a hub of terrorist activities.

The NIA also raided the residence of prominent separatist Shia leader Aga Syed Hussain Badgami, who is also part of Syed Ali Shah Geelani-headed faction of the Hurriyat Conference.

One of the places where raids were conducted belonged to Abdul Razak, a close aide of separatist Shabir Shah.

NIA sleuths seized three arms -- a pistol, a double-barrel gun and a .315 bore rifle from there, officials said.

Razak has claimed the arms were licensed but has not been able to provide any documents so far. Among those raided were the chartered accountants of businessman Zahoor Watali in Delhi and Gurgaon.  -- PTI