J-K: Police nabs OGWs, weapons discovered

Aman Zutshi

The Sopore police yesterday nabbed three Over Ground Workers (OGWs) and discovered weapons and other incrimination materials from their possession.

According to the report, a joint naka was laid in Sopore fruit mandi of Kashmir’s Baramulla district by 22 RR and 195 CRPF along with Sopore police. During the naka, three individuals who were coming to cross the spot tried to escape from there, when they saw local police and security forces.

However, the Sopore police and security personnel tactfully caught them and when they frisked them a Chinese pistol, mobile phones in which incriminating material have been found from them. The weapons and other material have been seized by cops.

The apprehended OGWs were identified as Faisal Ahmed resident of Sopore, Aquib Mehraj resident of Sangrama of Sopore, Adil Akbar Khushal Mattoo of  Sopore.

A case FIR No. 68/2024 u/s 7/25 of UAPA act registered at Sopore police station.

Over ground workers (OGWs), according to Indian security forces, are people who help militants, or terrorists, with logistical support, cash, shelter, and other infrastructure with which armed groups and insurgency movements such as Hizbul Mujaheddin and Jaish-e-Muhammad in Jammu and Kashmir can operate. OGWs play a vital role in terrorist attacks, providing real-time information and support to the tactical elements. Over ground workers have diversified into other roles such as stone-pelting, mob-rioting, ideological support, radicalisation, and recruitment of terrorists. In 2020, up until 8 June, around 135 over ground workers were arrested in Jammu and Kashmir by the Jammu and Kashmir police. While the term is used and associated extensively with the Kashmir region, the term has also been used officially in other parts of India where insurgency is still active, such as in the Naxalite–Maoist insurgency and in Meghalaya for the Garo National Liberation Army.

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