Delhi Police nab 4 JeM terrorists, seize explosives

New Delhi, Feb 5: Foiling a major attack plan in the Capital by the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), police here arrested four of its operatives, including a Pakistan-trained militant, after a fierce encounter near Connaught Place and recovered a large quantity of explosives, grenades and cash.

The arrests were made after the encounter at about 2130 hrs last night at Ranjit Singh flyover on Deendayal Upadhyay Marg where the three Kashmiri militants were to meet their Pakistani counterpart to deliver the consignment, Jt Commissioner (Special Cell) Karnail Singh told mediapersons today.

''In all, 32 rounds were exchanged -- 12 from the militants side and 20 from the police team. However, there were no casualties in the encounter.'' The arrested have been identified as Shahid Ghafoor (30) - a Pakistani national hailing from Sialkot, and Bashir Ahmad Ponnu alias 'Maulvi' (39), Fayyaz Ahmed Lone (28) and Abdul Majeed Baba (50) -- all residents of Kashmir. Three kilograms of deadly RDX, a .30 pistol, four detonators, a timer and six hand grenades apart from 10,000 US dollars, and Rs 50,000 in Indian currency were seized from their possession, he said.

''The arrests were the result of intelligence sharing between Delhi Police, state police and intelligence agencies.'' He said the three Kashmiris, had come to Delhi with the 'consignment' along with the explosives and grenades on Malwa Express at 2100 hrs and were to deliver them to Ghafoor who had arrived the same day in the morning.

On their likely target, the Jt Commissioner said the plan was to plant the explosives in crowded market places and return back to Kolkata.

''A 'daur-e-aam' (basic training of 21 days) and 'daur-e-khas' (specialised traits) trained militant, Ghafoor, who had come to India from Bangladesh on a Biman Airlines flight had earlier too come to India in 1998 and 2002 and was involved in the 2002 attack on Rashtriya Rifles camps in Kashmir.'' This time, he came to India on the instructions of his mentor Muzaffarabad (Pakistan) resident Farukh Qureshi to carry out the 'operation' after receiving the 'consignment' from the Kashmiris. A diary, with his Pakistani address and several other numbers, has been found in his possession, he said.

''During interrogation the three Kashmiris said they had gone to Kolkata last month to exchange the USD 10,000 for fake Indian currency worth 20 lakh from their Bangladeshi 'associates', on the instructions of JeM Sopore commander Abu Haider, but somehow the 'transaction' could not take place. They were later given the present 'consignment' to be delivered to Ghafoor who was to carry out the 'attacks' in the Capital.'' The arrested were still being interrogated and central intelligence agencies were also involved in the interrogation process, said the Jt CP.

Asked about why the police had allowed the terrorists to reach the national capital, Mr Singh said it was their endeavour to bust as large a module as possible.

''Thankfully, we obtained and developed information in time allowing us to effect the arrests. Had we just arrested the three, there was a possibility that their contact -- the Pakistani citizen -- could have escaped.''

UNI