The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad has arrested a 20-year-old man from Uttar Pradesh (UP) in connection with a case of recruitment of operatives for Pakistan based terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), an ATS official informed on Monday. He is the third person to be arrested in the said case.
The accused, identified as Inamul Haq alias Inam Imtiyaz, was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh ATS in March this year for his alleged links with the LeT and radicalising youth. He was currently lodged in a jail in UP, the officials said.
According to the UP ATS, Inamul, who originally hails from Jharkhand, was caught in March from Saharanpur in UP after he was suspected to be involved in anti-national activities. The UP had alleged that Inamul was instigating people for jihad, through social media platforms. Haq was also allegedly in contact with like-minded people from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan through WhatsApp.
"We have taken his custody in an ongoing case in Maharashtra, in which one 28-year-old Junaid Mohammed Ata Mohammed was arrested on 24 May this year for his alleged role in the recruitment of operatives for LeT. Our investigations have revealed that both Junaid and Haq were in touch with each other," said an official from the Maharashtra ATS.
Earlier this month, Maharashtra ATS had arrested Aftab Shah from Kishtwar area of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). The agency sources claimed that Shah was a "crucial link" between Pakistan based handlers and Junaid.
Last month, a Maharashtra ATS team had visited J&K as part of their terror funding probe into the case. The ATS officials had been investigating about the J&K based bank account through which Junaid allegedly used to receive to run his terror activities.
According to the ATS sources, Junaid was in active contact with active LeT members and was engaged in making attempts to recruit youngsters and send them to J&K for training to indulge in terrorist activities. "Enquiry had revealed that for this purpose, he had received money in his bank account from a J&K based bank account," the ATS officer had said.
The probe had revealed that Junaid was in touch with three Kashmir based persons - Hamidullah Zargar, Aftab Shah and one Umar who are wanted in the case. During a short period of time, Junaid had used ten Sim cards from different telecom provider companies. The modus operandi was to use a particular Sim card for a short period of time and then destroy it and use a fresh Sim card, police had said.
As per the ATS, Junaid and other wanted accused were tasked to misguide, brainwash and create anti-national feelings among selected youth and recruit them as members for the LeT. "To this end, Junaid operated five Facebook accounts through which he used to post anti-national posts. He would contact radicalised youth to join the LeT," the ATS officials had claimed.
ATS had arrested Junaid, who works in a scrap dealer’s shop in Dapodi, from the house of his relative in the Dapodi area of Pune on May 24.
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