Maharashtra ATS arrests ‘LeT recruiter’ from Pune

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Tuesday arrested a man from Pune for his alleged role in the recruitment of terrorists for the Lashkar-e-Taiba's (LeT) network. The arrested accused has been identified as Junaid Mohammed. Junaid was produced before the special court in Pune, which remanded him to ATS custody till June 3.

The ATS has registered an FIR against four accused including Junaid Mohammed under 121 (A), 153 (A) and 116 sections of IPC and IT Act at Kalachowki police station in Mumbai.

According to the sources, Junaid, who hails from Buldhana district’s Khamgaon town, was nabbed from Dapodi in Pune after his name cropped up in a terror funding case probed by the ATS.

In a press note issued by Maharashtra ATS, the agency said that on intelligence input on December 30, 2021, the probe was going on. But the FIR was registered on Tuesday. Three more accused are still at large, it said.

The ATS further said that Junaid was in touch with members of banned terrorist organisation LeT in Jammu and Kashmir. The accused was trying to recruit the youths of different states in LeT. The probe agency alleged that he was trying to take the youths to Jammu and Kashmir for training of terrorist activities.

“The probe also revealed that money has been deposited to the accused’s bank account for this work,” the ATS said.

The probe further revealed that Junaid had allegedly changed his sim cards 10 times. “After every conversion, he had destroyed his sim card and purchased a new sim card. He used 10 sim cards of different companies. It was his modus operandi,” the investigation agency said.

To connect the youth with LET, Junaid had allegedly created five accounts on Facebook with different names. With these accounts, the accused used to post anti-national things and try to connect the youth and provoke them to join the LET, the ATS said.

Junaid was produced before a court in Pune at 3pm. The prosecution told the court that as per the primary probe, the suspect has been in contact with Kashmir-based operatives of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and sought his police custody for 10 days.

The investigating officer told the court that for further probe, the ATS will take Junaid to Kashmir, a place which he had visited six times in the last two years.

Addressing the investigation officer, the court said that the probe in the case is expected to be thorough and in-depth. “The court is hereby granting police custody till June 3,” it said.