KNB News Desk
Srinagar 16 February (KNB): In overnight raids by the State Investigation Agency (SIA) at ten different places of South and Central Kashmir, ten Over Ground Workers (OGWs) of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) outfit were arrested.
SIA in a statement said that ten arrested persons were part of OGW modules and were taking instructions from Jaish militant commanders.
An official in the statement said, “The detected portion of the module had been active in recruiting other young persons, arranging finances, transporting weapons in south and central Kashmir besides providing other logistic support.”
In the searches , besides arrests, cell phones, SIM cards, records to show use of banking channels and even a dummy pistol were seized. Among arrested persons, there is one at whose house four militants had been killed on 4th of April 2020, it reads.
It further said, “The hitherto unknown module was working towards furthering militant activities in south and central Kashmir.The arrested members were mostly recruiting vulnerable school and college going students as a few of them are students themselves. They were in close connection with the regular militants of the Jaish outfit and had been under surveillance for quite some time.”
SIA also said that the digital records seized are being sent to FSL for evidence analysis and the arrested persons would be presented before the Hon’ble NIA court in Srinagar seeking permission for custodial questioning.
“It is believed the arrests and subsequent follow up investigation would dent the upper ground network of Jaish and degrade its ability to undertake militant activities across the valley,” the statement added. (KNB)