Security forces bust terror-financing network in Kashmir, arrest 6 Lashkar associates ahead of Independence Day

The Jammu and Kashmir Police has busted a terror finance network of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) with the arrest of as many as six persons in Jammu district.

During a joint operation by the Indian Army and a Special Operations Group (SOG) team of Jammu Police on July 19, Mubashir Farooq Batt, a resident of Doda who's doing a Bachelors course in nursing from a Kharar institute in Punjab, was apprehended with consignment of Rs 1.5 lakh concealed in a tiffin box.

The police said that during the investigation of the case, the SOG Jammu apprehended five more suspects involved in a much larger than anticipated teror module. The arrested were identified as Toqeer Ahmad Batt (a moulvi at Masjid Shimal, Doda), Asif Batt (a surrendered terrorist and Ex-SPO in J&K Police), Khalid Latief Batt (a contractor), Gazi Iqbal (a shop worker in Jammu) and Tariq Hussain Mir (a shop owner at Tanta, Doda).

The police said that during the questioning of the six arrested persons, it has surfaced that they received money amounting to Rs 12,19,704 from their handlers across the border through different means on many occasions as part of this module.

"All the accused are in contact with a Pakistani handler named Haroon alias Khubaib (Mohd Amin Batt) who remained as a district commander of LeT in Doda and exfiltrated to Pakistan in 2007," the police said.

All members of this module were tasked with identifying the gullible youth in the valley for recruitment in terror ranks. They also provided logistical support to the LeT cadre in the region and strengthened it. Besides distributing money among the families of active and deceased militants, all accused shared information about presence of security forces to their handlers in Pakistan and also transported arms and ammunition to different locations.

These men were also instrumental in recruiting LeT terrorists Abid Ahmed Bhat who was killed and Jamal Din who has surrendered.

The police said that on August 5 on the disclosure of Tariq Hussain Mir, the SOG Jammu recovered three more tiffin boxes from his house, including Indian currency worth Rs 40,700 which he received as consignment on different occasions from Pakistani handlers as part of this module.

"In continuation to the investigation of the above mentioned terror financing case, the involvement of four accused from Kashmir has surfaced. Moreover, it has come to notice that the module has its links in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab as well," the police said..