By IANS,
New Delhi : A week before Independence Day, Delhi Police Friday said they have arrested in the walled city two suspected militants of the Pakistan-based banned terror organisation Hizbul Mujahideen and recovered a large cache of arms and ammunition from them.
Sleuths of Delhi Police’s Special Cell arrested Javed Ahmad, resident of Kupwara, and Ashiq Ali Bhat, of Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir, in Daryaganj area late Thursday night when they were moving in a stolen Hyundai Santro car with a fake vehicle registration number.
The two were presented Friday in the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja, who sent them to police custody till Aug 17.
Police recovered two AK-47 assault rifles, two magazines, 120 rounds of ammunition, two hand-grenades, two fake identity cards and Rs.40,000 in Indian currency from the back seat of the car.
“Both the arrested men belonged to Hizbul Mujahideen and have been trained in weapons and underwent religious indoctrination in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. We have recovered large numbers of arms and ammunition from them and are interrogating them about their plans and targets in the national capital,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) P.N. Aggarwal told a press conference here.
According to police, the two men came to Delhi on Thursday evening. and called up their coordinator Shahid in Pakistan from a public telephone booth for further directions. Shahid told them to meet someone at the Sarai Kale Khan bus terminal to learn about their next move.
The police were alerted about the two by central intelligence agencies and were tailing them.
“We did not want to take any risks so our men moved in and arrested them. We also sent another police party to the Sarai Kale Khan bus terminal, but no one was present there,” Aggarwal said.
The police said both terrorists had been brought together by Shahid and they did not know each other before that.
“Shahid gave them fake passports, visas and identity cards. The two then flew by Pakistan Airlines to Nepal July 29. Then both men crossed the India-Nepal border on foot Aug 3 and reached Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh),” he said.
“From Gorakhpur they reached Jammu and Kashmir and met one Fayaz, who gave them weapons and ammunitions and a car before sending them off to Delhi,” he added.
The police said Ahmad was approached in 1997 by some people and was motivated to join the Hizbul Mujahideen. He joined the outfit and received religious training in the jungles before going to Pakistan for further weapons and religious training. “Ahmad was trained in vehicle driving and he started driving vehicles in the training camp,” said the police officer.
“Bhat was approached in 2003 by some to join the jehad (holy war). He received training in weapons and religious indoctrination in Muzaffarabad (Pakistani Kashmir). He stayed in Pakistan, where he got in touch with the self-styled chief of the Hizbul Mujahideen Syed Salahuddin,” Aggarwal added.
The police said that interrogation of the two arrested men was going on.