NIA arrests 2 LeT men during raids in Valley

New Delhi, May 14

The NIA today said it had conducted searches at multiple locations in the Valley and arrested two persons in connection with its probe into a conspiracy case involving a shadow group of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).

Officials said the searches were conducted at four locations in Baramulla, Kupwara, Pulwama and Shopian. The two arrested persons have been identified as Muzamil Mushtaq Bhat, a resident of Baramulla, and Fayaz Ahmad Khan, a resident Kupwara district.

The arrested men were in contact with their Pakistan-based handlers and had been providing logistic support for terrorist activities, spreading terrorist propaganda, radicalising and recruiting new members into LeT-affiliated The Resistance Force (TRF).

During the search, digital devices (mobile phones, laptop, SIM and memory cards) and incriminating material used for fabrication of IEDs, jehadi literature and posters were seized.

Later in a statement, the NIA said, “The case relates to activities of The Resistance Front, an offshoot of the proscribed terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Toiba and its self-styled commander Sajjad Gul, who has been actively radicalising, motivating and recruiting youth of J&K for indulging in violent activities in the UT and other parts of India.”

Gul, along with his other associate commanders of the Lashkar-e-Toiba based in Pakistan, has been recruiting individuals (overground workers) to conduct reconnaissance of pre-determined targets, coordinating and transporting arms and ammunition to support the terrorists in order to launch attacks on the security forces, government establishments and execute targeted killings.

4 locations searched

The NIA conducted a search in Baramulla, Kupwara, Pulwama and Shopian. Mobiles, laptop, SIM and memory cards besides material used for fabrication of IEDs, jehadi literature and posters, etc., have been seized.

SIA chargesheets 3 for terror funding

• The State Investigation Agency (SIA) has filed a chargesheet in a Jammu court in connection with a terror-funding case.
• The case pertains to the arrest of three aides of terror operatives in November last year when Rs 43 lakh was seized from them.