×
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Police recover first of its kind of grenades in Kashmir

SSP said that Asif was under the police radar for the past eight months “as he was involved in a grenade attack in Baramulla in August 2019
Last Updated 01 January 2021, 11:56 IST

Jammu and Kashmir police on Friday said that first of its kind of grenades were recovered from the possession of an overground worker (OGW) of ‘The Resistance Front’ (TRF) militant outfit, who was arrested in northern Baramulla district.

“The arrested OGW (Asif Gull) was tasked to recruit youth and to kill a newly elected Councilor. He was booked under Public Safety Act (PSA) four times in the past as well and is involved in at least 29 cases,” Abdul Qayoom, Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) of Baramulla, told reporters.

He said first of its kind of grenades were recovered from Asif. “In Jammu and Kashmir, no such recovery has been made so far by the security forces and all were kept within a bag full of charcoal covered with a plastic bottle to escape from the joint Naka,” Qayoom said.

The Pakistan-backed TRF, police believe, has been formed by Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) last year to give cover to the Lashkar-e-Taiba and project Kashmir’s militancy as indigenous.

The SSP said that Asif was under the police radar for the past eight months “as he was involved in a grenade attack in Baramulla in August 2019, that claimed the lives of forces personnel.

Terming the arrest as an achievement for security forces and police, Qayoom said, “His friend Abid, a student enrolled at a Jammu college went to Pakistan via Wagah border on visa and is presently running TRF outfit as top commander based in Pakistan. Asif was tasked to recruit youth into the outfit (TRF) in Kashmir,” he added

The SSP said that in the preliminary investigation, it also surfaced that Asif had done huge extortion in the name of Lashkar-e-Toiba and the TRF “but none of the individuals has so far approached the police with a complaint against him.”

ADVERTISEMENT
(Published 01 January 2021, 11:56 IST)

Follow us on

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT