Jammu and Kashmir police on Thursday claimed to have achieved a big breakthrough on January 21 Narwal, Jammu blast by arresting a teacher-turned- Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist.
Addressing a press conference in Jammu, Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbag Singh, said that after 11 days of hard work by the Jammu police, a major success was achieved in the form of the arrest of one Arif Ahmed, a resident of Reasi district of Jammu.
"Arif is a government teacher and is an active terrorist of the Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit. He was working at the behest of Qasim, a Reasi resident, and his uncle Qamardin, also a Reasi resident, presently in Pakistan, who are part of LeT," the DGP said.
Teacher-turned-terrorist was involved in multiple blasts.
According to police, the government school teacher-turned-terrorist was involved in carrying out multiple blasts, including one in a bus carrying Vaishno Devi pilgrims.
Arif, a resident of Reasi district, was arrested following the investigation into the recent twin blast in Jammu's Narwal that left nine people injured.
Arif was allegedly working at the behest of his Pakistani handlers, according to police.
He has accepted his involvement in bombing the bus carrying Vaishno Devi pilgrims that killed four people last year, an IED explosion in Jammu's Shastri Nagar area in February 2022 the twin explosions at Narwal on January 21.
Two bombs were planted on January 20. Two blasts occurred on January 21 at a gap of 20 minutes to kill as many people as possible. Nine people were injured after the first IED blast. Police have arrested one terrorist Arif, who was in contact with Pakistan handlers for three years.
"Pakistan is infamous for propagating terrorism from its land and for killing hundreds of innocent people across the world. Jammu and Kashmir is on target for some time. Pakistan wants to create a communal divide among the people in Jammu and Kashmir," DGP said.
Higher-ups failed to detect Arif's anti-national activities
The arrested Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) teacher was posted at Government Middle School Phajilla in the Barnsal area of Ghulabgarh of Reasi district. He was involved in terror activities since long but higher-ups of the Education Department in that area were unaware of anti-national activities.
Reports said that Arif Ahmed was first appointed as Rebar-e-Talim (ReT) teacher in the same school. After completing a five-year period he was regularized as a regular teacher in 2016.
"For the last three years, Arif Ahmed was involved in terror activities and triggering one after other blasts in different parts of Jammu province", sources said and added that taking advantage of the backwardness and inaccessibility of the area Arif Ahmed usually skipped the school with the connivance of some officers of the Education Department.
