15 IEDs, 6 pistols smuggled from Pak seized in Samba
Kashmiri ultras getting pistols from Chapra in Bihar: DGP
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Feb 14: Police today averted major terror attack on second anniversary of Pulwama terror strike by apprehending four militants from Jammu, Kashmir valley and Chandigarh including a Nursing College student, who was carrying about 6.5 kilograms Improvised Explosive Device (IED) to plant it at one out of four targets assigned to him in heart of the City including General Bus Stand Jammu while the cops recovered six pistols and 15 IEDs from a village in Ramgarh sector of Samba district which seems to have been smuggled from Pakistan either through drone or tunnel and had to be used for terror activities.
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Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbag Singh and Inspector General of Police (IGP), Jammu Zone, Mukesh Singh disclosed arrests and recoveries at a joint press conference here this afternoon. Operations were commanded by DIG Jammu Vivek Gupta, SSP Jammu Sridhar Patil and SP Operations Naresh Singh among others.
Mukesh Singh identified the militant arrested along with powerful 6.5 kg weight IED in the City as Suhail Bashir Shah son of Bashir Ahmed Shah, a resident of Newa in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
He said police was maintaining very high alert across Jammu City in view of inputs that on second anniversary of Pulwama terror attack, the militants were planning to carry out major strike in the City.
“Alert cops noticed a militant moving in the City under suspicious circumstances and overpowered him. From his possession, a bag containing 6.5 kg powerful IED, which hadn’t been activate by then, was recovered,” Singh said, adding he was subjected to interrogation during which he spilled the beans and disclosed that he had joined Al-Badr-outfit and was in contact with the outfit’s Pakistan-based chief, who had asked him to plant and detonate the IED on Pulwama attack anniversary at either Ragunath temple, General Bus Stand, Railways Station or outside Jewellers’ shops in Lakhdatta Bazaar.
A major terror plot has been averted with the arrest of Suhail, the IGP Jammu said, adding after triggering the IED blast Suhail had to board Srinagar-bound flight and meet Athar Shakeel Khan alias Ubaid Ullah of Newa, Pulwama, a top ranking militant of Al Badr in Kashmir and join the outfit there.
Ather Shakeel Khan along with Abid Nabi alias Sehram of Budgam have been arrested in Srinagar while another militant Qazi Wasim alias Wazi was apprehended at Chandigarh.
Investigations are on to find out the place where the militant was given IED and whether it contained RDX, Singh said, adding there could have been major catastrophe had the IED exploded as crowded areas were on target of the Al-Badr militants.
The Jammu Police chief said another major recovery was made from village Jhang near Rakh Jhand Nallah in Ramgarh sector of Samba district last night when police seized two packets hidden in bushes along with small wooden structure and strings.
Recoveries made from the packets include six pistols, 15 IEDs, 12 pistol magazines, 179 pistol rounds, 15 white bottled containing IED making material and two wooden small structures and thread along with packing material.
Sources said the arms might have been dumped by Over Ground Workers after being dropped their either through drone or tunnel and had to be picked up by the militants but alert police personnel seized them well in time.
Meanwhile, Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Dilbag Singh today said Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) was planning a strike in Delhi which came to light after the arrest of a top terrorist who had made a video of the office of National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and forwarded it to his handler across the border.
Briefing reporters, he disclosed that the militants in Kashmir are also procuring weapons from Bihar and are using some Kashmir-based students in Punjab for transporting these illegal arms into the Valley.
On the arrest of self-styled chief commanders of Lashkar-e-Mustafa (LeM) Hidayatullah Malik and The Resistance Front (TRF) Zahoor Ahmad Rather by Anantnag police from Kunjwani in Jammu district and Bari Brahmana area of Samba district on February 6 and 13 respectively, the police chief said these two groups are frontal organisations of Pakistan-based JeM and Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) to give “Kashmiri name’ to their terror activities.
“Malik was leading LeM after it was floated in August last year although he was active for a long time in militancy. He had worked as an Over Ground Worker and floated the group on the directions of JeM. He was planning to set up a base in Jammu to carry forward terror activities in the region as well besides receiving arms and ammunition which are being smuggled from Pakistan through border, underground tunnels or dropped by drones before their smuggling to Kashmir,” Dilbag said.
The police chief said JeM was involved in various terror activities in 2018 and his interrogation revealed that he was also a close associate of JeM commander Ashiq Nengroo who used to receive the arms consignments from Pakistan in Jammu.
“Nengroo alias doctor at the behest of Pakistani agencies is directing terror activities. Malik visited Delhi on the directions of Nengroo and forwarded a video to him after conducting a recee of the NSA’s office that means JeM is planning attacks on targets in Delhi as well. His arrest is a big achievement for the police and exposed the plan of the terrorist group,” the DGP said.
Dilbag said Malik, a resident of south Kashmir, had also set up a network to get weapons from Chapra in Bihar and so far seven pistols have been brought from there and distributed for terror activities.
“He had also roped in some Kashmir based students who are studying in Punjab and they are using them for any action in Kashmir or Jammu or transporting weapons from outside,” he said and cited the example of a Kashmir-based Nursing student in Chandigarh college who was arrested along with a seven-kg Improvised Explosive device (IED) in General Bus Stand area in Jammu.
The DGP said Malik’s involvement was also established in looting of Rs 60 lakh from a cash van of a bank in November last year and his associates in the crime were also identified. “So far, his four associates including his wife were arrested.”
Terming the arrest of TRF chief Zahoor Ahmad Rather as another “major achievement”, Singh said he was known by the names of “Sahil” and “Khalid” among the militant ranks and is a Pakistan-trained militant.
“He was also an active Over Ground Worker before crossing into Pakistan in 2002, where he underwent arms training and returned with five foreign militants through Rajouri route. However, he surrendered in 2006 and remained inactive before getting reactivated in 2019,” the police chief said, adding his handlers in Pakistan know his potential and accordingly handed over the command of TRF into his hands.
The DGP said he had set up a vast network in Kashmir and so far eight members of the group have been identified at his disclosure and some have also been arrested whose interrogation is on in Kashmir.
“Being a surrendered terrorist, there was no doubt on him. He was directly involved in the killing of three BJP workers in Kulgam and a policeman in Kokernag areas of south Kashmir last year,” Dilbag said, adding his questioning is on and more is likely to come out given his level of involvement.
He complimented his men for three major successful operations which led to the arrest of two self-styled commanders and recovery of IED to avert a major tragedy besides attempts by Pakistan to revive Al-Badr group.
Top JeM militant, family cross over to Pak from tunnel
While tunnels constructed by Pakistan establishment and militants along the International Border in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts are being used for infiltration of militants and weapons, a rare instance has come to the fore wherein top Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) militant Ashiq Nengroo from South Kashmir had crossed over to Pakistan along with his family through the tunnel.
Nengroo crossed over to Pakistan in December 2019 using the tunnel on the International Border. He also took his family to Pakistan along with him.
Nengroo is now coordinating Jaish activities in Jammu and Kashmir especially the Jammu region from Pakistan where he has full support of establishment and militants.
The BSF has detected more than half a dozen tunnels along Indo-Pak border in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts during past few months which were being used by the militants for infiltration and smuggling of arms and explosives.
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