NIA arrests truck driver who allegedly ferried captured terrorist Naved to Jammu

Srinagar: NIA on Friday arrested the truck driver who allegedly ferried Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Mohammed Yakub Naved to Jammu on two occasions, including on 4 August, a day before he and his accomplice ambushed a BSF bus, killing two of its personnel.

The driver, identified as Khursheed Ahmed alias ‘Surya’, said to be an overground operative of the banned LeT, is a resident of Awantipura.

The NIA sources said Khursheed had taken Naved and his accomplice Mohammed Noman alias Momin to Jammu on 20 July on a reconnaissance mission during which the timings of convoys of BSF and Army were marked.

The militants initially wanted to attack either of the convoys then and there but decided against it at the last minute and were ferried back to the Kashmir Valley, officials said.

Khursheed, 35, has already served a prison term of two-and-a-half years for alleged drugs smuggling and cases are registered against him for involvement in stone-pelting incidents in 2010 and 2011, they said.

Information about Khursheed was given by Naved, who is in Srinagar in NIA custody.

The arrest was made by the NIA after receiving the go ahead from the anti-terror agency’s chief Sharad Kumar, who was here to review the progress of the case.

NIA was handed over the Udhampur case on 7 August, two days after Naved and Momin attacked a BSF convoy killing two personnel. Momin was killed in retaliatory fire.

Naved was captured by locals whom he had held hostage.

PTI