The Anti-Terrorists Squad (ATS) on Thursday arrested a suspected operative of Hizbul Mujahideen from Kanpur who was planning subversive activity in the industrial town during Ganesh Chaturthi festival which began from Thursday.
The terrorist, identified as Qamar-uz-Zama alias Dr Hureha, 38, was arrested from Chakeri area of Kanpur on the inputs from National Intelligence Agencies (NIA), disclosed Director General of Police OP Singh while briefing media persons about the breakthrough here on Thursday evening.
The ATS sleuths who made the arrest were tracking him for the past 8-10 days and it appeared from his mobile phone that he was carrying out a recce.
The DGP said Qamar-uz-Zama, a native of Assam, had rented the house of a local corporator posing as a student and the ATS nabbed him at 3 am on Thursday. He said the Hizbul Mujahideen operative was educated and had a sound knowledge of computers but he had failed his BA third- year exam.
Singh disclosed that the ATS sleuths had recovered several documents and photographs of different temples of the industrial city where the terrorist was slated to unleash terror activity during the 10-day-long Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations.
Qamar-uz-Zama had reportedly received arms training in a camp operated by Hizbul Mujahideen in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir and in Pakistan and had joined the terror outfit in April 2017 with the help of one Osama. The terrorist outfit had named Qamar-uz-Zama as Dr Hureha.
According to the details given by the DGP, the terrorist had also stayed in the Philippines between 2008 and 2012 and had posted a picture of himself with a AK-47 assault rifle on the social media after which the anti-terror agencies, including the NIA, had launched a hunt for him.
Top officials of the ATS are interrogating the arrested terrorist and trying to trace his links with other people in the state and also his source of funding.
The court has remanded Qamar-uz-Zama to police custody for seven days.