Chandigarh, July 15 -- With a special focus on the challenges posed by Pakistan-based gangster Shahzad Bhatti's network, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday held a high-level coordination meeting with the police chiefs of seven northern states in Chandigarh to chalk out a joint strategy against organised crime syndicates, interstate gang networks and the terror-gangster nexus.

This was the third consecutive annual meeting hosted by the NIA ever since the practice was started to bring more synergy between the central and the state police forces to meet the organised crime challenges.

According to a senior Punjab Police functionary present in the meeting, the discussion was held on the increasing supply of weapons, improvis...