The Punjab police on Thursday said they had foiled smuggling of weapons in a big way into the Kashmir Valley for carrying out terror attacks with the arrest of two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives.
Ten hand grenades, one AK-47 rifle with two magazines and 60 live cartridges were seized from Aamir Hussain Wani, 26, and Wasim Hassan Wani, 27, both residents of Shopian, the police said.
Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta said, “The duo, actively involved in transporting automatic weapons and hand grenades from Punjab to the Kashmir Valley, were arrested by the Pathankot police, which intercepted a truck at a naka on the Amritsar-Jammu highway.”
A search of the truck led to the recovery of the weapons and ammunition. The accused, during preliminary investigation, said they were directed to collect the consignment from Punjab by Ishfaq Ahmed Dar alias Bashir Ahmed Khan, a former J&K constable. Currently an active militant of LeT in the Kashmir Valley, Dar absconded in 2017, he stated.
“The duo said they collected the consignment from two unknown persons on Thursday morning at a pre-arranged location on the Maqboolpura-Vallah road near the vegetable market in Amritsar. They had then concealed the consignment in the truck, which they had brought ostensibly for loading vegetables and fruits from the mandi in Amritsar,” he said.
“Aamir Hussain Wani has revealed that, on his earlier trips to Punjab in his truck, he had collected more than ₹20 lakh of hawala money at the behest of his handlers, Dar and Dr. Rameez Raja, who is currently lodged in a jail in J&K for his involvement in terror activities.”
An FIR under Sections 25/54/59 of the Arms Act, 3/4/5 of the Explosive Substances Amendment Act 2001 and 13, 17, 18, 18-B, 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 had been registered.
The arrest of the duo had corroborated recent intelligence inputs indicating that Pakistan’s ISI had been pushing weapon consignments and infiltrating militants from across the border into Punjab, and further to the Kashmir Valley for carrying out terror activities, Mr. Gupta added.
