Cross-LoC Terror Module Busted; J&K Police arrest 5 Lashkar-e-Taiba Associates

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir police on Saturday claimed that it together with the Indian Army busted a cross-LoC “terror module” after arresting five “associates” of proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) involved in smuggling of arms and ammunition. The group operated from Karnah area of frontier Kupwara district, it added.

The police in a statement issued here said that acting on credible information it launched an operation jointly with the Army’s 9 Para Field Regiment during which a module involved in smuggling of various types of arms and ammunition sent by two PoJK-based LeT terrorist handlers namely Manzoor Ahmad Sheikh and Qazi Mohammad Khushal was unearthed. Both Sheikh and Khushal are originally residents of Karnah and had crossed over to PoJK during the heyday of militancy in J&K, the police sources said.

The police statement said that, following the arrest of one of the members of the group identified as Zahoor Ahmad Bhat, one AK rifle with a magazine and twenty rounds of ammunition, two pistols and as many magazines and some other incriminating materials were recovered from Karnah. “The preliminary investigations revealed that in the recent past the two LeT handlers operating from across the border were in touch with Bhat who lives in a village which falls in proximity of the Line of Control (LoC) through various means,” the statement said.

The police also claimed that the weapon consignments would after being received from across the de facto border be delivered to other “terror associates” who were in contact with Bhat and the PoJK handlers, as well. “Based on further leads, four more terror associates namely Khursheed Ahmad Rather, Mudassir Shafiq, Ghulam Sarwar Rather and Qazi Fazal Illahi have also been arrested, while arms and ammunition and other incriminating material recovered from them include five AK rifles with equal number of magazines and 16 rounds of ammunition,” the statement said.