Police on Sunday claimed to have rescued four youths from joining militant ranks in frontier district of north Kashmir's Kupwara district.
"Police received a reliable information regarding some youth from different parts of Kupwara district being exploited for commission of militant acts and being motivated for their eventual induction into militant ranks by Pakistan based handlers," a police spokesman said in a statement.
Police acted swiftly and raided four places in District Kupwara and apprehended four youths (names withheld), the spokesman said.
After sustained questioning, all four of them admitted to the fact that they were being rigorously and regularly motivated since last few months by a Pak based militant handler to lob grenades on forces as their preliminary test to formally enter into militant ranks, the spokesman said.
"Pertinently it surfaced that various social media platforms are being used by Pakistan for luring and coercing gullible youth towards the destructive path of terrorism," the spokesman said.
Keeping in view the past record of these youth and the efforts put in by their families and elders to encourage them to shun path of terrorism police decided to adopt a humane approach and hand them over to their respective families. Kupwara police has once again foiled the evil designs of Pakistan based militants to recruit local youth into militancy, the spokesman added.