By IANS
Lucknow : Three Pakistani militants were arrested here Friday with a large cache of weapons with plans to abduct a top politician, possibly Rahul Gandhi, in a bid to “liberate” 42 terrorists from various jails in India, a top official said.
According to a top intelligence official, the terrorists had confessed their affiliation with the Jaish-e-Mohammad, a Pakistan based terror outfit, and were plotting to kidnap Rahul Gandhi, son of Congress president Sonia Gandhi who represents Amethi, in Uttar Pradesh, in parliament.
Citing security reasons, Director General of Police Vikram Singh chose to remain tight-lipped on the target of the arrested militants.
“All I can tell you is that these terrorists had a VVIP who is a top UP politician on their kidnapping target,” he said at a press conference here.
According to him, their mission was to seek the “liberation of 42 dreaded terrorists currently jailed in different parts of India; these included Afzal Guru facing a death sentence for playing a key role in the attack on the Indian parliament”.
Their action plan also included the proposed involvement of two Kashmir-based BBC journalists – Altaf Hussain and Yusuf Jameel – for mediation by the UN in the eventual quid pro quo for the release of the 42 terrorists.
The three men were intercepted early Friday in a grey Hyundai Santro car from the outskirts of the city with a huge cache of lethal weapons and explosives, including two AK-47 assault rifles with 120 rounds of ammunition, three imported pistols, four kg RDX with five detonators and 16 grenades. Indian currency amounting to Rs.24,300 was also recovered from their possession, police said.
“The arrested men have confessed that they had received six months of intensive training to carry out their mission of abducting a top UP politician, whose video clippings were also shown to them.”
Singh added that the Jaish-e-Mohammad squad had plans of carrying out the mission in Uttar Pradesh because their target was more approachable here.
“Significantly, they knew by heart the entire list of 42, which they narrated without a pause,” said STF (special task force) superintendent of police Amitabh Yash.
The plan included a ransom demand of $1 million.
The three, between 22-27 years old, have been identified as Mohammad Abid, Yusuf and Mirza Rashid though they used several aliases.
“While they were all carrying documents suggesting their connections with Kashmir, they eventually confessed their origin to Pakistan; interrogation revealed that Mohammad Abid belonged to Lahore, Yusuf to Multan and Mirza Rashid Beg to Gujaranwala. They even gave their exact addresses,” the state police chief said.
The three terrorists are stated to be “highly trained” and had sneaked into India through the Kashmir border. They had arrived here via Jammu and Delhi by train.