In a major breakthrough, Uttar Pradesh STF sleuths arrested three Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militants of Pakistani origin from Lucknow on Friday.
A-K series rifles, grenades, Chinese pistols and a cache of ammunitions were also recovered from their possession, police said.
UP Director General of Police (DGP) Vikram Singh said the militants had planned to kidnap a top UP politician and in exchange demand the release of 42 key JeM militants lodged in various jails across the country. However, the DGP did not reveal the identity of the politician.
The trio — Mirza Rashid Begh of Siyalkot, Mohammad Abid alias Fatte of Multan and Yusuf alias Faisal, had taken a train from Jammu to reach New Delhi on November 14.
The STF team arrested them on a tip-off from the Intelligence Bureau (IB) about the JeM module in Paksitan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) active in hatching a conspiracy to be executed in Uttar Pradesh.
It was on Thursday that the STF team came to know about movement of the JeM members from Delhi. The cops intercepted the Santro they were travelling in, at Gudamba in Lucknow.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the terrorists had undergone training at a Bahawalpur camp in Pakistan for six months.
{{/usCountry}}Preliminary investigations revealed that the terrorists had undergone training at a Bahawalpur camp in Pakistan for six months.
{{/usCountry}}The police recovered two AK-47 rifles and four magazines, 120 cartridges of AK-47, three Chinese .30 bore pistols, 101 live and 15 used cartridges of .30 bore, four kg RDX, five detonators and 16 Chinese grenades from the vehicle.