The Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant arrested from Saharanpur was planning to conduct attacks in several places in Uttar Pradesh, quoting a top UP police official ANI reported.
Additional Director General (ADG) Prashant Kumar said today that the JeM militant had links with his Pakistan handlers via online modes.
The arrested militant identified as Muhammad Nadeem (25), a resident of Kunda Kala village of Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur was arrested by an anti-terrorism squad (ATS) of the UP Police on Friday just days before a nationwide celebration of the 75th year of Independence, thereby thwarting a huge untoward incident, as per the report.
“ATS nabbed a Mohd Nadeem from Saharanpur, who had links with JeM. He was planning on conducting terror activities in many places in UP,” ADG Kumar said.
Kumar informed that in the year 2018 Nadeem had come in online contact with Hakimullah, a member of JeM in Pakistan, who introduced him to another member, Saifullah. “He created virtual IDs from India and sent them to Pakistan handlers so he may hide his digital footprint,” the ADG said.
Saifullah gave him a manual to make IEDs. He was also trained for lone-wolf attacks by knife. Nadeem identified targets for the same. He was in contact with several handlers on the Pakistan-Afghan border, they encouraged him to conduct anti-India activities here, said Kumar.
The ATS squad of UP Police had earlier informed that he had plans to kill the suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma for her alleged remarks on Prophet, which erupted in a huge controversy and violence all across the nation.
The UP ATS received information that a man in Saharanpur, influenced by JeM and TTP ideology, was preparing for ‘Fidayeen’ attack. Following this, Nadeem was identified and interrogated. During the primary investigation, a mobile phone was recovered from him, in which a PDF document titled “Explosive Course Fidae Force” was found, informed the ATS.
Besides this, the police have found Nadeem’s phone chat including voice messages with JeM and TTP militants of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
During interrogation, Nadeem said that he has been in touch with various militants of JeM and TTP since 2018 via WhatsApp, Telegram, IMO, Facebook Messenger, Club House etc.
He has got training in creating virtual phone numbers from militant organisations.
A Pakistani named Saifullah was training him to carry out a ‘Fidayeen’ attack on government buildings or police forces. Nadeem was asked to travel to Pakistan for special training, reads the report.
As per information, the JeM militant has also given the names of his fellow militants to the police.
One mobile phone with two SIM cards has been recovered from him. He has been booked under Sections 121A/123 of IPC. (Inputs from ANI)
