Arrested Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Qamer-uz-Zaman, who was arrested from a house in Kanpur early Thursday (Sep 13) morning by a team of Uttar Pradesh ATS following inputs from NIA, was under the radar of UP Police following confirmed reports of his joining the terrorist organization. Multiple agencies were coordinating to arrest Qamer who hails from Jamunamukh in Assam’s Hojai district, UP ATS chief, IG Asim Arun, told News Live in Lucknow.
The Uttar Pradesh top cop said Qamer had been in Jammu and Kashmir since 2012 where he was doing some business but went underground in June 2017 before posting a photograph of his with an AK-47 assault rifle in social media announcing his allegiance to Hizbul.
“We were tracking him for sometime and finally managed to arrest him in the wee hours of Thursday. Multiple agencies were coordinating his arrest and that he was arrested from a house in Kanpur,” Asim Arun told News Live’s senior reporter Sunil Borah in Lucknow.
“He was doing a recce of possible targets. We have found a video of a temple that was recorded in his smart phone,” he further said, adding that processions taken out during Ganesh Chaturthi could have been his probable targets.
The Uttar Pradesh top cop further said that the phone and the SIM card was provided to him by a friend named Shahnawaz and that two other persons were also staying with him at their rented accommodation in Kanpur. However, the other two were not with Qamer when police raided and arrested the Hizbul terrorist.
#EXCLUSIVE | We were trying to track him down after there were inputs of his joining Hizbul and planning to carry out subversive activities. He was doing a recce of possible targets. We have seized a smartphone provided to him by his friend Shahnawaz: UP ATS chief to @NewsLiveGhy pic.twitter.com/NLNvd9CZyB
— NEWS LIVE (@NewsLiveGhy) September 15, 2018
#EXCLUSIVE | Two more persons were with Qamer at the rented accomodation in Kanpur from where he was arrested by UP ATS. The other two, however, left before Qamar was arrested: #UttarPradesh ATS chief Asim Arun tells @NewsLiveGhy's @sunilreports in #Lucknow pic.twitter.com/n59HKBXhr1
— NEWS LIVE (@NewsLiveGhy) September 15, 2018
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Asim Arun further said Qamer had joined Hizbul along with another person named Osama bin-Javed and that the duo took a specialized arms training in the higher mountainous region in Kishtwar, Jammu and Kashmir.
#EXCLUSIVE | Arrested #Hizbul terrorist Qamer-uz-Zaman took special arms training in the mountainous reaches of Kistwar in Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh ATS chief IG Asim Arun tells @NewsLiveGhy's senior reporter @sunilreports in #Lucknow, #UttarPradesh. pic.twitter.com/NwPBob8WFY
— NEWS LIVE (@NewsLiveGhy) September 15, 2018
“He was probably influenced by radical elements during the time he spent outside India,” Arun claimed, adding that police are looking into the possibility of other youths from Assam following his footsteps and getting involved in anti-national activities.
