Jammu and Kashmir Police’s State Investigation Agency (SIA) has arrested a Srinagar resident for his alleged involvement in the white-collar terror module busted recently, officials said.
The accused, identified as Tufail Niyaz, was detained during the probe into posters of the banned outfit Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) that surfaced in Srinagar’s Nowgam area last month.
The investigation into the posters case led to the unravelling of a well-organised, inter-state white-collar terror network believed to be involved in the Red Fort blast in Delhi.
Tufail, who worked as a salesman, allegedly provided an AK-47 rifle to one of the module’s members, a senior official said.
“He is being questioned, and more details are expected to emerge,” the official added.
The entire module was busted after the Srinagar Police began an investigation into the pasting of posters that threatened police and security forces on walls in Bunpora, Nowgam, in mid-October.
“The CCTV footage analysis led to the arrest of the first three suspects — Arif Nisar Dar alias Sahil, Yasir-ul-Ashraf, and Maqsood Ahmad Dar alias Shahid. Their interrogation led to the arrest of Maulvi Irfan Ahmad, a former paramedic turned Imam, who allegedly supplied the posters and radicalised the doctors,” sources said.
The trail led the investigators to Al Falah University in Faridabad, where Dr Muzzafar Ganaie and Dr Shaheen Sayeed were arrested, and 2,900 kg of explosive material was seized.
Investigators believe a core trio of doctors — Dr Ganaie, Umar Nabi (the driver of an explosives-laden car that exploded near the Red Fort on November 10, killing 13 people), and Muzzaffar Rather (absconding) — were running the module.