The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Wednesday said they have arrested a PhD scholar for allegedly recruiting youths to join terror outfits. Rubani Bashir, a research scholar at the Central University of Kashmir, was arrested based on inputs from the Kulgam Police.

The police said that special teams had been formed to search for a suspect with the code name “Dr Sabeel”.

“After systemic efforts of Kulgam police, one vehicle bearing no. JK18B-4852 was zeroed in,” the police said in a statement. “The credentials of the vehicle was sought and it came to fore that this vehicle was being used by one Dr Rubani Bashir.”

The police added that during questioning Bashir said that he has been associated with Jamat-e-Islami for a long time.

“The basic modus operandi of Dr Sabeel was to work for proscribed terrorist organisations Hizbul Mujahideen and Jamaat-e-Islami behind the scenes,” the police claimed. “He used to identify the youngsters, motivated them, funded them, and then made them ready to join terrorist organizations.”

The police said that two more men, Fazil Ahmed Parrey and Tariq Ahmed Naikoo, were arrested based on inputs from questioning of Bashir. Parrey and Naikoo had been recruited by Bashir, the police have said.

“One pistol, a pistol magazine and nine 9 mm rounds have been recovered Bashir, the police added. “One AK-47 Magazine and 19 AK-47 rounds were recovered from Fazil Ahmed Parrey, and a Chinese grenade, 10 AK-47 rounds and an Alto car used for ferrying the terrorists have been seized,” the police said in a statement.