NIA arrests an overseas involved person on airport
By: Muzamil Bhat CK
Srinagar
NIA has been looking for a person from the past so many days belonging to Poonch district of Jammu region as he was wanted in a narco smuggling case.
NIA has been very active in the past several months in such cases and has even charged many accused persons in such cases. NIA has been handed over many cases in Jammu and Kashmir and they have also solved some of the cases by arresting the accused persons.
According to PTI cracking the whip on overseas militant modules, the National Investigation Agency on Thursday arrested a person upon his arrival at the Jammu airport in connection with a case of infiltration of militants in Poonch and smuggling of narcotics, officials said.
Accused Shahid Naveed of Mendhar in Poonch district is alleged to be a close associate of Sher Ali, the main coordinator and facilitator of terrorist activities of various groups in the area, the officials said.
Ali was arrested on February 17, and Naveed’s name came up during his interrogation.
Both Ali and Naveed were operating from Kuwait, and their involvement in militant activities surfaced during the investigation of a case lodged in Mendhar police station last year following the killing of two Pakistani militants affiliated with the JK Ghaznavi Force in an encounter at Surankote in Poonch on December 13.
After the arrest of Ali in February, the NIA took over the case, the officials said.
Naveed is believed to have been deported from a Gulf country and was brought to India under strict supervision. He was flown to Jammu for handing over to the NIA, the officials said.
A police investigation had revealed that Ali facilitated the entry of the two militants from the Dabbi area of Balakote on the intervening night of November 24 and 25 last year at the behest of Pakistani handler Sultan, the officials said.
Ali headed a network of overground workers who were behind smuggling of arms and ammunition, besides narcotics.
Ali’s father Mushtaq Ahmed and sister Raskeem Akhter were arrested by Poonch police on September 11 for receiving the arms consignment from Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and an FIR stands registered in Mendhar in this connection, police had said.
Earlier, five overground workers — Mushtafa, Mohd Yaseen, Younis, Irfan and Raskeem — were arrested for their involvement in the terror network led by Ali. A huge cache of arms and ammunition, including five pistols, 13 grenades and one live improvised explosive device (IED), had been recovered from them.
In addition, police had said that over two kg heroin, worth over Rs eight crore in the international market, was recovered from this terror network.
The money generated from the sale of the narcotics was meant to be used for militant-financing.
With inputs from PTI
