Viral one day, in handcuffs the second: How J&K police arrested 3 novice terrorists

On Wednesday, a picture of three youths from Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district holding AK47 rifles went viral on social media. The trio, identified as Lalpore residents Abid Hussain Wani and Zakir Rafiz Bhat, and Javid Ahmad Dar of Thayan Kalaroos, claimed to have joined terrorist ranks. When Jammu and Kashmir police came across their viral image, they swung into action to nab the novice terrorists.

The police started contact tracing and soon they had their location - the jungles of Lolabh's Gungbugh area. A special team of Kupwara police along with 28 RR and 162Bn CRPF jawans launched a CASO (cordon and search operation) in the area to track them. As the security forces were closing in, the terrorists opened fire on them.

The forces, however, didn't return the fire but tried to persuade them to surrender. The terrorists didn't surrender and a brief encounter broke out. The trio was arrested alive after a brief shootout and security personnel recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition from their possession.

Call to home led to their arrest

The trio had called their family to inform them that they have chosen the path of terrorism. Their phone calls at home turned out to be the biggest breakthrough for the security forces as they analysed their calls and based on the information, their location was traced.

"They had called at their homes and informed their family that they have chosen the path of terrorism. On the basis of info gathered, police and Army launched a joint operation," said Kupwara SSP AS Dinkar.

How they got radicalised

The Jammu and Kashmir police said that the trio of Wani, Bhat and Dar was in contact with terrorists across the LoC in PoK. Their terrorist handlers in PoK radicalised them against the country and motivated to join terror ranks. The Jammu and Kashmir police has requested the local youths to be aware of the anti-national elements on social media.