Expanding its crackdown on the inter-state network of the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group, Jammu and Kashmir Police, in coordination with central intelligence agencies, arrested several people from Haryana and Rajasthan for allegedly facilitating terrorists in obtaining fake identities, including passports.
Officials said on Sunday that the detained persons provided crucial logistical support to the terrorists by providing documents such as Aadhaar cards, Permanent Account Number (PAN) and even voter cards.
Srinagar Police led the investigation, which produced the entire intelligence. However, when the scale of the operation and its broader security implications became clear, the case was immediately escalated to include central agencies and police forces in other states to dismantle the network spanning multiple regions of the country.
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The officials said that one of the terrorists, Omar, nicknamed “Khargosh” (Rabbit), managed to obtain a passport and has since fled to Indonesia, where he is believed to have used another forged travel document and stationed himself in a Gulf country.
Officials said that Omar, a resident of Karachi, Pakistan, sneaked into India after 2012 and escaped using a fake passport obtained from Jaipur in Rajasthan in 2024.
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These details emerged after the Srinagar Police busted a ‘deep-rooted’ inter-state unit of LeT and arrested five people, including a Pakistani terrorist, Abdullah alias Abu Hurairah, who had been on the run for 16 years and had succeeded in setting up bases outside the Union Territory.
The arrest of Abdullah, along with another Pakistani national named Usman alias Khabib, was another major success for the Srinagar Police, which comes six months after the dismantling of a “white collar” terror cell based at Al Falah University in Faridabad linked to the November 2025 Red Fort blast case.
During interrogation, Abdullah told investigators about his and Omar’s footprints across India, especially in Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab, which included a marriage ceremony conducted by the escaped terrorists to the daughter of a terror sympathizer in Kashmir, the officials said.
The operation, which began on March 31 and was supervised by Director General of Police Nalin Prabhat, who was camped in Srinagar, revealed the financing and financial pattern of the LeT, officials said.
They added that the terrorists used fake documents and identities to create a network not only in Jammu and Kashmir, but in several other states.
Officials did not rule out the possibility of placing some of those arrested under arrest, especially those who helped obtain passports and other documents by forgery.
Three residents of Srinagar, Muhammad Naqeeb Bhat, Adil Rashid Bhat and Ghulam Muhammad Mir alias Mama, were among the five arrested. They are accused of providing shelter, food and logistical support to terrorists.
The complex network began to unravel on March 31 when Captain Bhat, the first of the three Srinagar residents, was arrested in Bandash with a gun and other incriminating materials.
The officials said that Bhatt told the police during interrogation that he was part of the LeT and purchased arms and ammunition from another colleague, Adil Rashid from Zagora, and also provided support to foreign terrorists.
From Bhat, the police were taken to Mir and Rashid Bhat, both active LeT affiliates in Srinagar, and during investigation, after unearthing the detainees, various hideouts were also seized in forest areas in and around Srinagar.
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Classified as top-tier militants, the two Pakistani terrorists infiltrated India about 16 years ago and remained active in various areas of the Kashmir Valley, “commanding around 40 foreign terrorists” over the years, most of whom have since been neutralized, the officials said.
Officials said incriminating materials were seized from several hideouts in different parts of Srinagar and other cities, including three AK-47 rifles, an AK-Krinkov rifle, pistols, grenades, electronic equipment and tools.
This revelation of the inter-state Lashkar-e-Taiba unit comes nearly six months after the action taken by the Srinagar Police against the “Farmer Unit” in November 2025. The investigation subsequently revealed a network of highly educated professionals, mostly doctors, who were radicalized to carry out terrorist activities.
One of the accused was Dr. Omar On Nabi from Al Falah University, who was driving the car bomb that exploded outside the Red Fort on November 10 last year, killing more than a dozen people.
Officials said he had previously made failed attempts to join terrorist groups in 2016 and 2018.
This story has been published from a news agency feed without modifications to the text.
