Punjab Police on Thursday foiled a major attempt to smuggle weapons into the Valley for carrying out terror attacks, with the arrest of two Jammu and Kashmir-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operatives.

Ten hand grenades, along with one AK-47 rifle with 2 magazines and 60 live cartridges, were seized from the suspected militants, identified as Aamir Hussain Wani (26 yrs), r/o Hafsarmal, Distt. Shopian, and Wasim Hassan Wani (27 yrs) r/o Sharmal, PS Jainapora, Distt. Shopian.

The duo, actively involved in transporting automatic weapons and hand grenades from Punjab to the Kashmir Valley, were nabbed by the Pathankot police, who intercepted a truck bearing registration No. JK-03-C-7383 at a Naka on the Amritsar-Jammu highway in the PS Sadar area.

Giving details, DGP Dinkar Gupta said the search of the truck led to the recovery of the weapons and ammunition, and the accused, during preliminary investigation, revealed that they had been directed to collect this weapons consignment from Punjab by Ishfaq Ahmed Dar alias Bashir Ahmed Khan, a former J&K constable. Currently an active militant of LeT in the Kashmir valley, Dar had absconded in 2017.

The duo further disclosed that they had collected the consignment from two unknown persons early this morning at a pre-arranged location on Maqboolpura-Vallah road near the vegetable market in Amritsar. They had then concealed the consignment in the truck, which they had brought ostensibly for the purpose of loading vegetables and fruits from the mandi in Amritsar, according to the DGP.

Aamir Hussain Wani has revealed that, on his earlier trips to Punjab in his truck, he had collected more than Rs. 20 Lacs of hawala money at the behest of his handlers – Ishfaq Ahmed Dar and Dr. Rameez Raja, who is currently lodged in a jail in J&K for his involvement in terror activities.