LeT module busted, SPO among 7 held

Seven people, including a former territorial army (TA) jawan and a special police officer (SPO), were arrested on Saturday for allegedly trying to revive militancy in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar, Doda and Ramban districts. Bashir Ahmed, Altaf Ahmed, Abdul Rashid Harga, Shoket Ali, Akthar Magray, Shafqat Hussain and Hafiz were arrested following an investigation into an attack on a police picket at Tanta on May 8.

Bashir had worked for 139 TA battalion while his nephew, Altaf Ahmed, served as an SPO in Doda. Hagra is a surrendered Lashkar militant who was arrested in 2013 for attempt to murder and granted bail three years later.

Inspector general of police (Jammu) S D Singh Jamwal said that Harga had been in contact with Bashir for arranging a weapon. Bashir asked Altaf for it and he stole an AK rifle along with ammunition from Doda district police lines in January. Altaf handed over the rifle to Bashir, who was allegedly in contact with his Pakistani handler. On May 7, Bashir had Hafiz recee the picket before the attack in which SPO Mohammad Younis was killed. Harga had been allegedly motivating youths in Tanta to join militancy along with Akhter and Shokat.