Mohamad Naved was on a "high" during Udhampur attack

New Delhi, Aug 17: Mohammad Naveed, the terrorist who carried out the Udhampur attack was on a drug at the time the operation was launched.

He revealed to the National Investigating Agency that all Fidayeens are administered a drug before an attack which helps them stay cool and focused. This explains all the smiling that Naved was doing at the time of being caught, an investigator informed.

The NIA which got custody of Naved has been questioning for nearly 6 to 8 hours a day and he has gradually begun opening up about his life and how he landed in the trap of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba.

They gave me a purpose to life, he told the investigators while explaining how he was jobless and was in desperate need for some recognition.

Fidayeen on a high

Most of the Fidayeens who come into India on a long haul are administered a psychotropic substance before the attack. It is either administered by themselves or their partner in case they attack in buddy pairs.

Naved too a few hours prior to the attack was administered a drug. The drug helps them stay calm and focused which in turn ensures that they are able to carry out a long haul.

However 24 hours after his arrest, the drug began to wear out and reality of the law hit him. He was nervous at first and today he only begs the NIA officials to send him back home. " I want to return and I have questions to ask those people who sent me here in the first place, he says.

Send me back home

Naved has several times pleaded with the NIA officials to send him back to his home in Pakistan. "I gained nothing out of this. They had promised me Rs 50,000 but I never was given that money. Instead my handler kept all the money.

He told me that I would get all the money when I finished the operation. I am sure he knew I was going to die in the attack. See what happened to Noman (the terrorist killed in the Udhampur strike). In all we were given around Rs 5,000 as expenses and we had to manage with it," he said.

The money began to run out soon. This led us to asking people for help. For nearly a month we managed our food and shelter by asking people around. When I confronted my handler about this, he told me that one needed to face hardships.

Picked up from a Mosque

Naved's interrogation clearly suggests how terrorist groups in Pakistan use places of worship as recruitment centres. The maulvi in the Faisalbad mosque was the spotter in this case.

The maulvi saw that I was doing nothing and he has information about almost all the people in the locality.

He told me that instead of wasting away my life, I should be doing something more meaningful. I was introduced to a person who was part of the Lashkar. From here my journey began. I was trained and sent into Kashmir on June 2. I was told that there was no cause for worry as there are many in the state who will help us.

The NIA has found that there is a deep rooted network in Kashmir which ensures that jihadis who come in for a long haul are looked after. Naved's case is very similar and he managed to survive almost a month with locals helping him out.

There are people who have helped him willingly and unwillingly and in our next phase of the investigation, we propose to question all of them, an NIA official also informed.

OneIndia News