A day before the beginning of the G20 meeting in Srinagar, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday arrested a Kashmir-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) operative for his involvement in a terror conspiracy case in Jammu and Kashmir.
In another incident, the Indian Army opened fire after observing suspicious movement in the Mendhar area of Poonch district along the Line of Control (LOC) in Jammu in the wee hours on Sunday.
The incident comes a day after the Indian soldiers shot dead a Pakistani intruder along the LoC in the Poonch district. Later, during the search operation, an IED and a huge consignment of drugs was recovered from the intruder.
It was learnt that soldiers patrolling at Mendhar LoC were alerted when they detected some movement along the border as the infiltrator tried to enter the Indian side.
NIA arrested Mohammad Ubaid Malik, a resident of Kupwara district in north Kashmir, based on inputs that he was in constant touch with a Pakistan-based JeM Commander.
“Investigations have revealed that the accused was passing on secret information, especially regarding the movement of troops and security forces, to the Pakistan-based Commander,” said the NIA.
The arrest comes as part of the crackdown by NIA against the conspiracies being hatched by proscribed terrorist organizations operating from across the border to destabilize India through terrorist attacks.
The NIA also recovered from the accused’s possession various incriminating documents showing his involvement in the furtherance of terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir.
The case was registered by the NIA suo-moto on 21 June last year. It is related to the conspiracies hatched by cadres and Over Ground Workers (OGWs) of various proscribed terrorist organizations in cohorts with their commanders based in Pakistan.
“It involves collection and distribution of huge consignments of narcotics, cash, weapons, Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), including remote control operated sticky bombs and magnetic bombs,” said the NIA.
“The IEDs and explosives are often being delivered over drones and are also being assembled locally, in order to execute terrorist attacks in J&K, as per the NIA investigations.
The attacks are mainly targeted at the minorities and security forces personnel. The conspiracies are being hatched both physically and in cyberspace over encrypted social media applications, with the overarching aim of disturbing peace and communal harmony, engaging in terrorist acts, and waging a war against the Government of India, the anti-terror agency further said.
Meanwhile, the Indian soldiers patrolling in Keri-Gulutha area of Mendhar suddenly observed some movement in the bordering area during an ongoing search operation at 3:30 am. The soldiers fired a few shots towards the side from where the movement was noticed. “There was no retaliation. No loss of life or injury was reported”, officials said. Following the incident, searches have been intensified in the area.