Punjab, J&K Police arrest three students with links to Kashmir terror groups; seize assault rifle, explosives from hostel room

Chandigarh/Srinagar: In a joint operation, the Punjab Police and the Special Operations Group of Jammu and Kashmir Police on Wednesday arrested three students and busted a module of Kashmiri terror outfit Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGH) in Jalandhar.

The students were nabbed from the hostel of CT Institute of Engineering Management and Technology, located in Shahpur on the outskirts of Jalandhar, Director General of Police Suresh Arora said in a statement.

The joint team which conducted a raid at the hostel also seized two weapons, including an assault rifle and explosives, from the hostel room of Zahid Gulzar, a B.Tech (Civil) student from Rajpora, PS Awantipora, Srinagar. Zahid was arrested along with Mohd. Idriss Shah alias Nadeem and Yusuf Rafiq Bhatt, both residents Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama.

The DGP said the arrests followed the development and corroboration of various leads and inputs about the presence and activities of certain militant organisations and individuals operating in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab. A case has been registered in PS Sadar Jalandhar in this regard.

Further investigations are in progress and the Punjab Police is working closely with the Jammu and Kashmir Police to unravel the entire conspiracy and network built by these outfits in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, said the DGP.

He said the busting of the terror module belonging to AGH, and the seizure of weapons in Jalandhar, was indicative of efforts by Pakistan’s ISI to expand the arc of militancy on India’s western border.

It may be mentioned that Gazi Ahmad Malik, a resident of Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian, was recently picked up by the Punjab Police from Banur, Patiala, where he was studying in Aryans Group Polytechnic College.

It was learnt that Gazi was closely related to Adil Bashir Sheikh, a Jammu and Kashmir Police special police officer who had fled with seven rifles from the residence of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) MLA in Srinagar, and was suspected to have joined militant group Hizbul Mujahideen,  he said.

He was later handed over to the Jammu and Kashmir police for further investigations.