Police arrested two interstate arms smugglers on Thursday in Uttarakhand’s Udham Singh Nagar, allegedly linking them to the Pakistan-based Al-Badr terror organisation, and seized a large quantity of arms and ammunition.
Detectives said they were investigating a terror angle after police found that an overground worker (OGW) linked to Al Badr had transported approx. $7 lakhs in the bank account of one of the arrested accused who supplied him with a weapon in 2021.
The police identified the accused as Harendra Singh alias Honey and Nikhil Verma alias Rano, both 27 years old, and residents of Sitarganj in Udham Singh Nagar. The defendants are history writers and each faces at least five criminal cases.
The police found two rifles, one pistol, two homemade pistols, and 344 rounds of ammunition, including 215 live ammunition, and confiscated their car.
A joint checking drive was carried out by the Special Operations Group (SOG) of Rudrapur and Sitarganj police station under Operation Prahar, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ajay Ganpati said on Wednesday.
“While driving, we received information about two suspects transporting illegal weapons in a white Swift car without a number plate via Kucha Road in SIDCUL Phase 2 area. Our team set up 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 statement said.
“During interrogation, the accused revealed that they were on their way to hide the weapons in Churgalia forest area due to police crackdown on criminal elements under Operation Prahar. They also admitted to being involved in inter-state supply of illegal arms and supplying weapons to several individuals, including in Jammu and Kashmir. Two more persons, Inderjit Sandhu and Pawan Sandhu, residents of Pulbhata, were found to be part of their connection; however, it is likely that they outside the country.” He added.
After further interrogation and technical analysis of their mobile numbers and bank accounts, several suspicious transactions were traced to accounts based in Jammu and Kashmir, the SSP said.
“Moving Over Ground Worker (OGW) associated with the full moon Rehan Mir is a resident of Shopian approx $7 thousand pounds in the bank account of the arrested accused. On the other hand, the accused stated that he had handed over a gun to Mir in 2021. However, we suspect that he may have handed over multiple weapons due to the large amount of money exchanged,” he said, adding that they had also detected multiple transactions in 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 collect information in this regard,” he added.
“Mir is facing a terror conspiracy case registered by the Delhi Police Special Cell in 2021. Honi is also wanted in the same case. We have informed the Delhi Police Special Cell about Honi’s arrest,” he added.
The SSP said that if the terrorism angle is identified, she will invoke UAPA sections in the Arms Act case registered against the accused.
