Major terror plan averted in Jammu on Pulwama attack anniversary, four held

JeM planned terror attacks in Delhi; terrorists sourcing weapons from Bihar: DGP

Jammu:  A major terrorist plan to set off an explosion at a crowded place here on the second anniversary of the Pulwama attack was scuttled with the recovery of a powerful IED from a nursing student who was arrested along with three others, a top police officer said on Sunday.Inspector General of Police, Jammu Range, Mukesh Singh also said six pistols and 15 small Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were seized from Samba district in a separate operation.”Over the past four days we were on high alert because there was general intelligence input that terror groups want to trigger a major blast in Jammu city on the second anniversary of the Pulwama attack. The security around all important locations were strengthened and checking intensified,” he told reporters here.Singh, who was also flanked by Director General of Police Dilbag Singh, said a youth was found moving in suspicious manner along with a bag in the general bus stand area and it led to the recovery of nearly seven kg of IED which was, however, not activated as yet.The IGP identified him as Suhail Bashir Shah, a resident of Newa village of Pulwama, who was pursuing nursing course in a college in Chandigarh and was assigned the task to plant the IED in Jammu by his Pakistan-based handler affiliated with Al-Badr terror outfit.”He was given four targets including (the famous) Ragunath mandir, bus stand, railway station and Lakhdata bazar (jewellers market) and was scheduled to take a flight to Srinagar after completing his job, he said.Singh said Athar Shakeel Khan, who is a high ranking overground worker of Al-badr, was supposed to receive him at Srinagar airport and accordingly, Khan was arrested.”His fellow student from Kashmir, Qazi Wasim, was aware of the plan and he was picked up from Chandigarh, while their another associate Abid Nabi was arrested from Srinagar, the IGP said, adding Bomb disposal squad was investigating the IED and it is not yet clear whether RDX was used in the fabrication of the device.However, he said timely recovery of the IED averted a major tragedy in Jammu region.In another successful operation, he said police seized six pistols along with a large quantity of ammunition and 15 minor IEDs while patrolling in Jang area of Ramgarh in Samba district during the intervening night of February 13 and 14.”We are investigating the backward and forward links of the consignment,” he said.The IED recovery comes close on the heels of the arrest of two top terrorists from Kunjwani in Jammu district and Bari Brahmana area of Samba district.Zahoor Ahmad Rather, a top terrorist affiliated with The Resistance Front (TRF) who was wanted in connection with the killing of three BJP workers and a policeman in south Kashmir last year, was arrested in Bari Brahmana area of Samba on Saturday.Earlier on February 6, self-styled commander of the Lashkar-e-Mustafa (LeM), Hidayatullah Malik, alias “Hasnain”, was held from the Kunjwani area of Jammu.Two years ago on this day, Pakistan-sponsored Jaish-e-Mohammed carried out the dastardly attack on a CRPF convoy of 70 vehicles in Pulwama, resulting in the death of 40 jawans.The DGP complimented the police for the alertness and busting of the terror networks, leading to the spectacular success over the past week. Following the arrest of a top terrorist who had made a video of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s office, it has come to light that Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad is planning a strike in Delhi, J&K police chief Dilbag Singh said on Sunday.The Jammu and Kashmir DGP also disclosed that the terrorists in Kashmir have begun procuring weapons from Bihar and are using some students from Kashmir, studying in Punjab, for smuggling these illegal arms into the Valley.DGP Singh made these revelations in a news conference over the arrest of self-styled chief commanders Hidayatullah Malik and Zahoor Ahmad Rather, respectively of terror outfits Lashkar-e-Mustafa (LeM) and The Resistance Front (TRF).Malik was arrested on February 6 by the Anantnag police from Kunjwani in Jammu district while Rather was apprehended on February 13 from Bari Brahmana area of Samba district.The UT’s police chief said these two groups, LeM and TRF, are frontal organisations of Pakistan-based JeM and Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) to give Kashmiri name’ to their terror activities.Malik has been leading LeM floated last August although he had been an active militant for a long time. He had worked as an overground worker and floated the group on the directions of JeM, said Singh.Malik was also planning to set up a base in Jammu to carry forward terror activities in the region besides receiving arms and ammunition, being smuggled from Pakistan through underground tunnels on the border or being dropped by drones before being smuggled to Kashmir, he said.Singh said JeM was involved in various terror activities in 2018 and Malik’s interrogation revealed that he was also a close associate of JeM commander Ashiq Nengroo who used to receive arms consignments from Pakistan in Jammu before escaping to the neighbouring country along with his family through an underground tunnel on the international border.The BSF has detected six underground tunnels along the IB in Jammu region over the past six months.After escaping to Pakistan, Nengroo alias doctor has been directing terror activities in Kashmir at the behest of Pakistani agencies, said the DGP, adding that Malik visited Delhi on Nengroo’s orders and forwarded him a video the NSA’s office after recceing it, said the DGP.That means JeM is planning attacks on targets in Delhi as well, he said, adding Malik’s arrest is a big breakthrough for police as it has exposed the terrorist group’s plan.Malik, a resident of south Kashmir, had also set up a network to get weapons from Bihar and soured seven pistols from there till now and got them distributed among militants, the DGP said.He had also roped in some students from Kashmir, studying in Punjab, and had been using them for any action in Kashmir or Jammu or transporting weapons from outside, said Singh.In this context, the DGP also cited the example of a Kashmir-based nursing student in Chandigarh college who was arrested along with a seven-kg improvised explosive device from Jammu’s general bus stand area.The DGP said Malik was also involved in looting of Rs 60 lakh from a bank’s cash van last November.This was established after the arrest of his four accomplices, including his wife, in this crime, he added.Terming TRF chief Rather’s arrest as another major achievement , Singh said he is a Pakistan-trained terrorist and is known by aliases Sahil and Khalid among militants.He was also an active overground worker before crossing into Pakistan in 2002, where he underwent arms training and returned with five foreign terrorists through Rajouri route, DGP Singh saidHe, however, had surrendered in 2006 and remained inactive before resuming his activities in 2019, the police chief said, adding his handlers in Pakistan know his potential and that is why made him the TRF’s chief.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 terrorist, who had surrendered earlier, helped Rather escape security agencies’ suspicion, said the DGP, adding the TRF chief was directly involved in the killing of three BJP workers in Kulgam and a policeman in Kokernag areas of south Kashmir last year.Rather is being questioned at present and his interrogation is likely to reveal new things, the DGP said.The Union Territory’s police chief also 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.