Pistols, 6 mobiles, Rs 2.5 lakh cash recovered
*Were trying to shift consignment to Kashmir
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Nov 15: Police today arrested three terror operatives, one of them a Government teacher, and recovered arms, ammunition, mobile telephones and cash from their possession, at village Bahram Gala in Surankote tehsil of Poonch district during overnight operation.
They had to transport the consignment, which had reportedly been smuggled from across the Line of Control (LoC), to South Kashmir in a Tempo Traveller via Mughal Road, officials told the Excelsior.
Three terror operatives nabbed by the police in an overnight operation that continued till this evening have been identified as Aijaz Ahmad Sheikh, a Government teacher, son of Abdul Rashid, a resident of Sailan, Bufliaz, Mehraj Ahmed son of Maqsood Ahmed R/o Behram Gala and Gulshan son of Mohammad Sharief of Bunikhet, Bafliaz.
Officials said a team of Bahram Gala Police Post acting on a specific intelligence input had laid a naka at Bahram Gala and intercepted a Safari vehicle at 11.30 pm last night. Aijaz Ahmed Sheikh, a Government teacher was nabbed from the vehicle and was subjected to sustained interrogation during which he disclosed identity of Gulshan .
In the midnight, police raided the hideout of Gulshan and apprehended him along with consignment of arms, ammunition and cash.
Recoveries include two pistols, four loaded magazines, six mobile telephones and Rs 2.5 lakh cash.
When both the terror operatives were subjected to cross questioning, they named their third associate as Mehraj Ahmed, a Tempo Traveller, who had to shift the consignment in his vehicle to South Kashmir via Mughal Road.
Mehraj Ahmed was arrested by the police this evening.
As per the officials, the consignment of arms and ammunition seems to have been smuggled from across the Line of Control and was to be transported to South Kashmir with the help of three terror operatives who have been arrested.
The Safari vehicle in which the terror operatives had to shift the consignment to the Tempo Traveller has also been seized.
“Police is working on more leads to see whether some more persons were involved in the terror act. Questioning of three arrested operatives is on in this connection,” the officials said, adding that they are trying to get identity of the militants who smuggled weapons and other items from Pakistan and those who had to receive them in South Kashmir.
The terror module reportedly belonged to the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) outfit.
Earlier also, police have busted many terror modules in the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch. Sources said the militants based in Pakistan and PoJK have been trying to activate LoC in the twin border district by trying to facilitate infiltration attempts and smuggling of arms, ammunition, explosives and narcotics.
However, most of such attempts have been successfully thwarted by the Army and police.
The officials don’t rule the possibility of involvement of some more terror operatives in the case and, to identify them, all three terror operatives are being subjected to sustain questioning.
There have been reports that few people living close to the LoC have been working for the militants from Pakistan and transporting consignments of weaponry and narcotics to safer areas from where they are picked up by the terror operatives and provided to the militants.
Blast near temple
in Surankote
A mysterious blast took place near a temple in Surankote town in Poonch district late this evening but there were no casualties.
Reports said a blast occurred near Shiva temple in Surankote town around 8.30 pm.
After hearing sound of the blast, security forces and police rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area.
However, there were no casualties in the blast. Minor damage was reported to the temple in the mysterious blast.
Police officials, who reached the spot, said the FSL teams have been called to the spot to ascertain nature of the explosive device.
“It will be premature to say whether it was a terror act or not,” they said, adding investigations are on and things will be clear tomorrow.
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