J&Ok: LeT operative held, arms cache seized in Reasi dist after years

Jammu and Kashmir Police and safety forces arrested an alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba affiliate in Reasi district’s Mahore city in a joint operation and claimed to have seized an enormous amount of arms and ammunition, together with Rocket Propelled Gun (RPG) and mortars, amongst others.
Arms haul at such a degree comes within the district after six years. The improvement comes simply earlier than the three-day Shiv Khori mela, held on the event of Maha Shivratri, starting March 10.
The police recognized the arrested individual as Reyaz Ahmed, 21 – he was arrested on Friday. According to police, throughout questioning within the presence of an government Justice of the Peace, Reyaz disclosed that he had hidden the arms and ammunition at a hideout between Makhidhar and Upper Shikari ridge of Mahore tehsil.

A search operation by the police and Army was launched subsequently and two beneath barrel grenade launchers (UBGL) and mortar grenade launcher (MGL), 5 grenades, one RPG, three mortar bombs, 80 rounds of INSAS, sniper and AK rifles, in addition to explosive materials, have been recovered, the police mentioned. Reasi’s Superintendent of Police Surjeet Bhagat mentioned the seizure additionally included one AK-47 rifle with 22 magazines and 150 cartridges, one rocket launcher, 16 UBGL grenades, 4 hand grenades, and two very excessive frequency (VHF) radio units with antennas.
The cache was to be delivered to an individual from Gool, in adjoining Ramban district, Bhagat mentioned. It was a part of the consignment despatched by LeT ‘commander’ Khobaib, a resident of Doda who’s at current primarily based in Pakistan, the SP added.
On February 18, the police and safety forces had seized an AK 47 rifle together with a sealed field of ammunition, one self loading rifle (SLR), one .303 bolt rifle and two Chinese pistols together with magazines and ammunition from Makhidhar forests. These have been additionally despatched by Khobaib, in response to the police.

With these large-scale seizures, the police mentioned a plan to revive militancy in Pir Panjal ranges, particularly forward of the Amarnath yatra and Budha Amarnath yatra to Mandi, in Poonch district of Jammu division, has been foiled.