Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, May 17: Police today recovered currency worth crores of rupees from apple town of Sopore in North Kashmir that was meant for Hizbul Mujahideen outfit, highly placed sources said here.
Sources said that two persons Mohammad Ayub and Mudasir Ahmad were arrested by Sopore police. “Both of them are believed to be the Over Ground Workers (OGWs) of Hizbul Mujahideen. Mudasir is brother of a militant Ghulam Nabi who was killed in an encounter three years ago”, sources added.
Sources said that the interrogation of the duo led to the arrest of one Mohammad Anwar Dar son of Mohammad Ramzan Dar of Naseem Bagh Sopore and from whose possession cash worth crores of rupees was recovered. “The cash was concealed in a plastic water reservoir tank. Police recovered it after Dar was questioned as he led a police party to the area”, sources said.
The police are tight lipped over the recovery of cash worth crores of rupees. However, one of the police officers said that the cash is genuine currency while other said that it may be fake. Sources said that cash is a foreign currency. Police are investigating the case and the picture will get cleared when investigations are completed.
Sources said that the cash had recently been brought from Kupwara and was dumped in Sopore. “Dar was already suspect with the police and other security agencies for past few years”, they added.
The recovery is considered a major success against the Hizbul Mujahideen who of late are re-grouping and posing a major challenge to the security agencies in North Kashmir.
Sopore is hub of militancy and despite successes by security forces against militants over the past few years militancy is on rise in the area. However, major successes were achieved against Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Hizb of late has become tough for security agencies to track.
Last month Police and Army had a major success when they arrested top commander of the LeT, Qari Naveed alias Fahadullah of Multan, Pakistan from Sopore.
After his arrest around two dozen militants and OGWs of the LeT were arrested from Sopore and police claimed that the arrests were a major blow to the LeT in Sopore area.
But 10 days after the arrest of Fahadullah, militants on April 26 in a major strike against police in Haigam area of Sopore killed 4 police men including two Special Police Officers (SPOs).
The police men were on their way to Haigam to probe a robbery case after militants made Sarpanch of the village to lodge a false complaint with police on cell phone.
Hizbul Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the attack and police and security agencies carried out massive operations against the militants who killed the police men. Although police claimed that the killers of the police men have been identified but so far the security agencies have failed to track them.
However, police and other security agencies are after the HM since the attack and today’s recovery is considered to be the part of these efforts of the police and other security agencies.
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