Uttar Pradesh ATS arrests suspected Hizbul Mujahideen militant in Kanpur
He was allegedly planning to carry out attacks during Ganesh Chaturthi festivities, the police said.
The Uttar Pradesh Police on Thursday said they have arrested a suspected Hizbul Mujahideen militant in Kanpur’s Chakeri area, PTI reported. The suspect was arrested by the Anti-Terrorism Squad with the help of the National Investigation Agency and Kanpur Police, Director General of Police OP Singh told reporters.
The suspected militant was identified as 37-year-old Qamar-uz-Zama from Nagaon in Assam, the police said. Zama was allegedly planning to carry out attacks during Ganesh Chaturthi festivities on Thursday, Singh added. “During questioning he told us that he had gone for training to Kashmir in April 2017,” ANI quoted the top police official as saying. The police said they found a video clip of a temple in Kanpur on Zama’s mobile phone.
Singh said Zama had shared a photograph on social media in which he is seen posing with an AK-47 rifle. He admitted during interrogation that he was an active member of the Hizbul Mujahideen and had been trained in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district, Navbharat Times quoted Singh as saying.
Singh said the police were trying to trace Zama’s links and source of funding. They are also investigating why he was staying in Kanpur. “Whether he is here to vitiate the religious atmosphere or for any other purpose is part of the probe,” the police added.
The arrest comes just a week after the Delhi Police arrested two suspected operatives of a Jammu and Kashmir-based affiliate of the Islamic State group from an area near the Red Fort. They are residents of Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian district. One of their brothers was allegedly a member of the Hizbul Mujahideen who was killed in an encounter earlier in this year.