Srinagar, 12 April (H.S.): Widening its crackdown on the inter-state network of the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group, the Jammu and Kashmir Police, in coordination with central intelligence agencies, has detained several people from Haryana and Rajasthan for allegedly facilitating the acquisition of fraudulent identities, including passports, by terrorists.

Officials said on Sunday that the detained persons provided critical logistical support to terrorists by making documents like Aadhaar and Permanent Account Number (PAN) cards and even voter cards.

The investigation was spearheaded by the Srinagar Police, which generated the entire intelligence. However, as the scale of the operation and its wider security ramifications became clear, the case was immediately escalated to involve central agencies and police forces of other states to dismantle the network spanning multiple areas of the country.

One of the terrorists, identified as Umar alias ‘Kharghosh’ (rabbit), had managed to procure a passport and has since fled to Indonesia, from where he is believed to have used another forged travel document and stationed himself in a Gulf country, the officials said.

Umar, a resident of Karachi in Pakistan, had infiltrated into India after 2012 and fled using the forged passport, procured from Jaipur in Rajasthan, in 2024, the officials said.

These details emerged after Srinagar police busted a “deep-rooted” interstate LeT module and arrested five people, including a Pakistani terrorist, Abdullah alias Abu Hureira, who had been on the run for 16 years and had successfully established bases outside the Union Territory.

The arrest of Abdullah, along with another Pakistani national Usman alias Khubaib, was another major success for Srinagar police that comes six months after the dismantling of a “white-collar” terror cell centred at Faridabad’s Al Falah University that is linked to the November 2025 Red Fort blast case.

During interrogation, Abdullah told his interrogators about his and Umar’s footprints across India, especially in Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab, which included a marriage ceremony solemnised by the escaped terrorists with the daughter of a terror sympathiser in Kashmir, the officials said.

The operation, which began on March 31 and was monitored by Director General of Police Nalin Prabhat, who camped in Srinagar, has unveiled the funding and financial pattern of the LeT, officials said.

The terrorists used forged documents and identities to create a network not just in Jammu and Kashmir, but in several other states, they added.

The officials did not rule out the possibility of placing some of the detained persons under arrest, especially those who helped in procuring the passport and other documents fraudulently.

Three Srinagar residents, identified as Mohammad Naqeeb Bhat, Adil Rashid Bhat, and Ghulam Mohammad Mir alias Mama, were among the five arrested. They are accused of providing shelter, food and logistical support to the terrorists.

The elaborate network began to unravel on March 31 when the first of the three Srinagar residents, Naqeeb Bhat, was arrested from Pandach along with a pistol and other incriminating material.

During his questioning, Bhat told the police that he was a part of the LeT and procured the arms and ammunition from another associate, Adil Rashid of Zakoora and also provided support to foreign terrorists, the officials said.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Krishan Kumar