Image for representational purposes.
Credit: PTI Photo
Srinagar: The massive recovery of explosive precursor materials from Faridabad - sourced quietly by members of the busted “white-collar” terror module - has prompted the Jammu & Kashmir Police to launch a Valley-wide audit of fertilizer, chemical and hardware inventories to plug supply gaps that militants may exploit.
Officials said the UT-wide crackdown began after key accused Dr Muzammil Shakeel confessed to purchasing large quantities of NPK fertilizer, a source of ammonium nitrate and urea, from markets in Gurugram and Nuh over two years.
The investigations led police to nearly 3,000 kg of the material stored inside rented accommodations in Faridabad, one of the biggest seizures of explosive precursors linked to a terror plot in recent years.
The procurement trail showed that the module sourced other chemicals, wires, remotes, timers and electronic components from general trade shops in Nuh and Faridabad.
By buying items in small quantities or pretending they were for “academic projects,” the accused evaded scrutiny. “They exploited the blind spots in everyday commercial trade. No one asked for IDs, no one maintained records,” a senior officer said.
According to investigators, the fertilizers and chemicals were later processed and mixed inside a rented room at Al Falah University, where several of the accused doctors worked.
The improvised lab is believed to have been used to assemble components for IEDs linked to the Red Fort blast and other planned attacks. The Faridabad seizure and procurement patterns exposed serious gaps in the monitoring of ammonium nitrate, urea-based fertilizers and industrial chemicals - widely available items that become highly sensitive when stockpiled.
This prompted J&K Police to mirror the investigative trail locally and clamp down on potential supply chains inside Kashmir. As part of the audit, district police teams are now conducting physical verification of industrial stocks, cross-checking inventories with purchase and sales records, and examining whether any unit holds unaccounted quantities of chemicals that could be diverted for unlawful activities.
Inspections cover fertilizer godowns, agricultural shops, industrial chemical distributors and hardware stores. Authorities have instructed all such establishments to maintain detailed buyer records, including ID proofs, quantity purchased and purpose of use.
Several units are being asked to install CCTV cameras, digitise their stock registers and link real-time sales data with district monitoring cells.“The module managed to procure thousands of kilograms of material without triggering a single alert,” a senior officer said.
“We cannot allow that loophole to exist in Kashmir. From now on, every kilogram must have a paper trail.” The audit, one of the most expensive ever carried out in the Union Territory, is expected to continue for several weeks. More regulatory guidelines may follow once the first phase of inspections is completed.