J&K Police foil terror plot, arrest 19-year-old boy

Jammu and Kashmir Police claimed to have foiled a major terror plot with the arrest of a 19-year-old boy from the Bathindi area of Jammu. The youth, posing as a student, was reportedly preparing for the medical entrance examination. He had enrolled himself in one of the private libraries in the area and was also working part-time at the same library.  

According to police, the youth from the Reasi area, identified as Mohammad Sajid, was staying at a rented accommodation in the Bhathindi area.

The police picked him up after he tried to evade a security check post set up by the police near a cemetery in the Bhatindi area. During a routine search, the policemen recovered a mobile phone from his custody.

A detailed analysis of the phone revealed he was in touch with his handlers based in Pakistan via several apps. On Thursday, a police spokesman in a written statement said, “Jammu Police has arrested a 19-year-old boy, originally a resident of Reasi district and presently residing in the Bathindi area. “The youth is emerging as a key suspect in FIR No. 331/2025 u/s 113(3) BNS registered at Police Station Bahu Fort.

Preliminary investigations so far revealed that the accused was being radicalised online and was allegedly planning to carry out a terror act. Police claimed Sajid was in touch over the mobile phone with certain numbers based in Pakistan and other foreign countries.

The suspect’s digital devices have been seized and are being examined and analysed, a police spokesman added. The probe team is scanning WhatsApp chats, working on the leads and trying to track down the whereabouts of all those locals who remained in touch with him during the recent months.

Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Police on Thursday carried out raids at multiple locations across the Kashmir valley as part of its crackdown on the banned Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI). The searches were conducted in the Srinagar, Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian, Kulgam, Budgam, and Kupwara districts, a police spokesman said.

Officials said the raids targeted residential premises and other locations linked to JeI members and their associates as part of the ongoing efforts to dismantle the terror ecosystem and its support structures.

The action followed credible intelligence suggesting that some JeI members were involved in anti-national activities, they said.

Electronic devices, documents and literature were seized from the houses of individuals linked to the outfit and associated institutions. All recovered material has been seized for detailed scrutiny, according to officials. In Srinagar, police conducted citywide raids on the residences and businesses of associates of the JeI.

Officials said the searches were carried out at the residences and business establishments of Umar Sultan Guru from Chanpora, Mohammad Abdullah Wani from Budgam, currently living in Mandir Bagh Baghat here, Ghulam Mohammad Bhat from Bemina, Mohammad Ramzan Naik alias Faheem from Lal Bazar, Bashir Ahmad Lone from Harwan, and Manzoor Ahmad, a resident of Nowgam Chowk.

Searches were also carried out at the residences of those associated with JeI-affiliated institutions, including Mohammad Ramzan Lone, a resident of Soura (Ramzana Memorial Educational Institute, Soura), Shahid Zahgeer, a resident of Buchpora Soura (Ramzana Memorial School, Soura), and Peer Giyas Ud Din from Nowgam (Falah Research Ramzan Centre, Nowgam), they added.

Some institutions associated with the JeI ideology were also raided. These include Jamiat-ul-Banaat, Kashmir University in Lal Bazar, Rahat Manzil (JK Yateem Khana) in Bagh-i-Nand Singh, Chattabal, Chinar Publication Trust in Maisuma, and Al-Kousar Book Shop in Maisuma.

In north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, searches were also carried out at the Jamia Islamia Institute in Waripora, Handwara, based on information indicating suspected unlawful activities and possible links with the JeI, officials said.