20 NIA teams were assisted by J&K Police, CRPF and NSG personnel; drones used to keep a close watch on the entire operation.
New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) carried out an “extensive search” inside the Central Jail in Srinagar Monday, a first, after a probe revealed that a conspiracy to send youngsters to Pakistan for arms training was being hatched from the prison.
The agency seized 25 mobile phones, a few SIM cards, five SD cards, five pen drives, one iPod and large number of incriminating documents, including a handmade poster of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) and a Pakistani flag, besides jihadi literature during the search.
The NIA on 20 February registered a case relating to the arrest of two youths —Danish Ghulam Lone and Sohail Ahmad Bhat, reportedly from Al-Badr, a proscribed terror outfit — who were trying to cross the Line of Control (LOC), to enter POK for arms training.
The youths were arrested from Kupwara in J&K and during their interrogation it was revealed that the conspiracy to send them across the border was hatched inside Central Jail in Srinagar. They had disclosed that they were motivated by a HM militant named Adnan, operating in Pulwama to join the militant outfit and cross over to PoK for obtaining arms training.
Adnan had also reportedly asked the youths to visit Central Jail, Srinagar and meet Ishaq Paul, a militant who is under detention for further directions.
The men told investigators that they met Paul and one Ghulam Nabi Mughal, also a detainee in Central Jail Srinagar, who asked them to WhatsApp their photographs to the them and also a handler in Pakistan.
“During interrogation, the men revealed that the terrorists lodged inside the jail are in constant touch with their counterparts outside (also the ones across the border) through internet, who are working to send youngsters across the border for arms training,” an investigator said.
“They said that many inmates are being radicalised inside the prison. Most of these men lodged inside the jail are hardcore Pakistani terrorists,” the officer added.
This was the first time that the NIA carried out a raid inside the Central Jail premises.
“Twenty NIA teams assisted by the J&K Police, CRPF and the NSG personnel carried out an extensive search inside the Central Jail Srinagar and seized several incrimination documents to prove that the men were conspiring against the state,” said Alok Mittal, IG, NIA.
“These teams were also accompanied by magistrates, witnesses and doctors,” he added.
Mittal said the searches started early morning and continued until late afternoon.
“All the barracks and the open ground were thoroughly checked gadgets such as deep-search metal detectors,” he added.
Drones were also used to keep a close watch on the entire operation.