12-day UP ATS remand for Hizbul operative

A court in Maharajganj today remanded suspected Hizbul Mujahideen operative Naseer Ahmad in 12 days custody of Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad.

"ATS has got 12 days' police custody remand of Naseer. He will be brought here for interrogation," an ATS official said.

Naseer Ahmed alias Sadiq (34), hailing from Banihal in Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir, was held on May 13 from Sonauli border post in Maharajganj.

He was trying to sneak into India from Nepal in the guise of a shawl and carpet vendor and was nabbed by the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), which guards the 1,751-km-long open border.

Naseer was carrying a Pakistani passport and an identity card showing that he was a resident of Lala Musa village in Gujarat district in Punjab province of Pakistan.

He was handed over to the Uttar Pradesh ATS for further investigation.

Naseer had joined Hizbul Mujahideen in 2002-03 and moved to Pakistan.

In 2002, he sustained bullet injuries during an encounter with the Army in Banihal.

Naseer was residing in Pakistan since September 2003 and was involved in many attacks against civilians and security forces including an attack on an STF camp in India in 2003.

He was sent to India by his handler for a specific mission, an SSB spokesperson had said.

When he was asked for his identity proof by the SSB personnel at Sonauli, Ahmed was unable to produce any supporting documents, the spokesperson said.

The paramilitary force, based on initial interrogation of the terrorist, said he and his accomplice Mohd Shafi landed in Kathmandu on May 10 from Faisalabad in Pakistan via Sharjah. Shafi separated from him in Kathmandu.

The SSB said Naseer reached the Indo-Nepal border in a bus with an intention to sneak into Indian territory and carry out terrorist activities in India.

"He was in touch with a handler from India, who used to deposit money, in his account, off and on. On his instructions, he came to India for undertaking terrorist activities but was apprehended by the SSB," the spokesperson said, adding the handler who provided him money has been identified.

Naseer was part of the terrorist team that attacked the Special Task Force camp in Ramsoo near Banihal in 2003, he added.