Police have arrested two interstate weapon smugglers on Thursday in Uttarakhand’s Udham Singh Nagar, allegedly linking them to the Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Al-Badr, and recovered a large cache of arms and ammunition.
Investigators said they are probing a terror angle after police found that an over-ground worker (OGW) linked to Al-Badr had transferred about ₹7 lakh into the bank account of one of the arrested accused, who had supplied a weapon to him in 2021.
Police identified the accused as Harendra Singh alias Honey and Nikhil Verma alias Ranu, both 27, and residents of Sitarganj in Udham Singh Nagar. The accused are history-sheeters and are each facing at least five criminal cases.
Police recovered two rifles, one revolver, two country-made pistols and 344 cartridges, of which 215 are live, and seized their car.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Ajay Ganpati said on Wednesday that a joint checking drive was being carried out by a Special Operations Group (SOG) from Rudrapur and Sitarganj police station under Operation Prahar.
“During the drive, we received inputs about two suspects transporting illegal arms in a white Swift car without a number plate through a kuccha route in the SIDCUL Phase-II area. Our team laid a cordon and attempted to intercept the vehicle at 6:25 pm. However, the driver tried to evade arrest by reversing the vehicle, which eventually got stuck on the unpaved road. We arrested both suspects on the spot,” the SSP said.
{{/usCountry}}“During the drive, we received inputs about two suspects transporting illegal arms in a white Swift car without a number plate through a kuccha route in the SIDCUL Phase-II area. Our team laid a cordon and attempted to intercept the vehicle at 6:25 pm. However, the driver tried to evade arrest by reversing the vehicle, which eventually got stuck on the unpaved road. We arrested both suspects on the spot,” the SSP said.
{{/usCountry}}“During interrogation, the accused revealed that they were on their way to hide the weapons in the Chorgalia forest area due to a crackdown by the police against criminal elements under Operation Prahar. They further admitted to being involved in the interstate supply of illegal arms and supplying weapons to several individuals, including in Jammu and Kashmir. It emerged that two more people, Inderjeet Sandhu and Pawan Sandhu, residents of Pulbhatta, are part of their nexus; however, they are possibly out of the country,” he added.
The SSP said that, following further questioning and technical analysis of their mobile numbers and bank accounts, several suspicious transactions were traced to accounts based in Jammu and Kashmir.
“An overground worker (OGW) linked to Al-Badr, Rehan Mir, a resident of Shopian, transferred about ₹7 lakh into the arrested accused’s bank account. In return, the accused stated he delivered a pistol to Mir in 2021. We, however, suspect that he may have delivered multiple weapons because of the large sum of money exchanged,” he said, adding that they have also detected multiple transactions into the accused’s account with another suspect from Jammu and Kashmir, but his identity is yet to be established.
“We will send a team to Jammu and Kashmir to gather information in this regard,” he said.
“Mir is facing a terror-related conspiracy case registered by the Delhi Police Special Cell in 2021. Honey is also wanted in the same case. We have informed the Delhi Police Special Cell about the arrest of Honey,” he said.
The SSP said if the terror angle is established, they will invoke UAPA sections in the Arms Act case registered against the accused.