The National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into the 2019 Pulwama attack has revealed that Pakistan-based terror groups like the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) were recruiting gullible youth in Kashmir for making online purchases of chemicals used for manufacturing explosives to fabricate IEDs.
The investigation into the terror attack that killed 40 CRPF personnel on February 14 last recently led to the arrest of two persons, including 19-year-old Wazir, who during his interrogation gave the officials an insight into the radicalisation process of JeM.
Wazir is alleged to have procured online aluminum powder, high altitude jackets, mobile battery banks and trekking shoes. Aluminum powder is a highly flammable material and used as an ingredient in blasting agents used in commercial mining, they said.
Wazir handed over the aluminium powder to JeM over-ground workers and it was used by terrorists in the February 14 suicide attack when an explosive-laden car hit a CRPF convoy killing 40 personnel.
His interrogation also revealed that the JeM overground workers were brainwashing young boys and preparing them to indulge in terror activities, they further said.
The probe into the Pulwama incident got a fresh impetus after the NIA identified the house where Adil Ahmed Dar, the terrorist who was driving the explosive-laden car, had shot his last propaganda video that was subsequently released by the terror group from Pakistan.
On February 28, the NIA got a major breakthrough in the case when it arrested 22-year-old Shakir Bashir Magrey, a furniture shop owner and resident of Hajibal in Pulwama’s Kakapora.
Magrey had provided shelter and other logistical assistance to suicide bomber Adil. He was introduced to Adil in mid-2018 by Pakistani terrorist Mohammad Umar Farooq and he became a full-time overground worker of the JeM.
This month, the NIA has arrested four persons-- Tariq Ahmed Shah, his daughter Insha Jan, Wazir-ul-Islam and Mohammad Abbass Rather. The number of people arrested in this case has now gone up to five. The key conspirators have since been killed by the security forces during encounters.