Jalandhar, December 2
The teams of district and Jammu and Kashmir police swooped down on a bus near here today and arrested 14 persons suspected of being associated with the Hizb-ul Mujahideen militant group.
The local police team led by the Superintendent of Police, City, Mr Surinder Kumar Kalia, stopped a JKSTRC Delhi-bound bus near Bhogpur village around noon. The police conducted an identity check on the passengers and found that the voter identity cards of nine persons were fake.
According to sources, the joint operation was carried out as the J&K police had received a tip off that Hizbul men were travelling on the Delhi-Jammu bus. One of the persons was believed to be the areas commander of the terrorist organisation. The driver and the conductor of the bus corroborated that six Kashmiris had got down from the bus at Pathankot, while six others had got down at Tanda. Out of those getting down at Tanda, two were of Kashmiri origin, the driver told the police. It is believed that the area commander had got down from the bus before the police intercepted it.
The district police here said they had been asked by their J&K counterparts to stop the bus and conduct a search while a police party from Kathua was on its way to identify the suspected terrorists.
No weapons were, however, found either from the bus or from the person of the detained individuals.
Among those arrested were Tariq Hussain, Manzoor Ahmed, Ghulam, Mohideen, Buchait Hussain, Farooq Ahmed, Lal Hussain, Taufiq Hussain, Mohammed Yusuf, Mohammed Iqbal, Iftar Ahmed, Abdul Raseed, Farooq Ahmed, Mohammed Subeer and Zulfikar.
