A government school teacher-turned- Lashkar-e-Taiba’s terrorist was arrested for allegedly carrying out multiple blasts, including one in a pilgrims’ bus in Katra and January 21 twin blasts in Narwal that left four dead and scores injured, said director general of police (DGP) Dilbag Singh on Thursday.
The DGP identified the government teacher- turned-terrorist as Arif Ahmed of Reasi, who was initially appointed as a contractual teacher under the Rehbar-e-Taleem scheme in 2010 and was appointed as a regular government teacher in 2016.
Singh also claimed that the police, for the first time, also recovered a ‘perfume IED’ from the arrested terrorist.
On January 21, at least nine people were injured, one of the critically, in two back-to-back blasts at Jammu city’s Narwal area, about 5 km from the Sunjwan army camp.
The explosions, which security agencies suspect were triggered from sticky bombs planted on two cars, had taken place during Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra and five days ahead of the Republic Day celebrations.
Addressing mediapersons here, the DGP said the arrested government teacher owed his allegiance to Lashkar-e-Taiba outfit.
“After 11 days of hard toil by the Jammu police, a major success was achieved with the arrest of Arif Ahmed, who is a government teacher and also an active terrorist of Lashkar-e-Taiba outfit. He was working at the behest of Qasim, a Reasi resident and his uncle Qamardin, also from Reasi. Qasim and Qamardin, who are settled in Pakistan and are members of LeT,” the DGP said.
The DGP said Arif was involved in three IED blast incidents, Shastri Nagar, Katra and the twin blast of January 21 in Narwal.
On May 13 last year, at least four pilgrims were burnt to death and 22 others sustained burn injuries after two sticky bombs exploded in a bus in Katra.
Arif, according to the DGP, was working at the behest of his Pakistani handlers and admitted to his involvement in bombing the bus carrying Vaishno Devi pilgrims. “He also accepted his role in an IED explosion in Jammu’s Shastri Nagar area in February 2022 besides the twin explosions at Narwal on January 21 that left nine people injured,” said the DGP.
“An IED planted inside a perfume bottle was recovered from his possession. It can be triggered by pressing its nozzle,” said the DGP.
“It is for the first time that such type of a bomb was recovered in the union territory. “So far, we had seen IED with explosive materials, sticky bombs and timer fitted IEDs but a new type of IED was recovered from Arif which is perfume IED. This IED is in a bottle form and seems like a perfume bottle but contains explosive material,” he said, adding that “since the IED is new to us, experts will see how harmful and how powerful it can be. We have not touched it so far.”
The DGP also informed that Arif had also received money from his Pakistani handlers for planting the IEDs.
“He was assigned the task to plant IEDs and cause maximum casualties with an aim at creating communal disturbances in the Jammu region. He will not only lose his job but will also get punishment under the law of land,” said the DGP.
The DGP said after carrying out Narwal twin blasts, Arif had burnt his clothes, shoes and mobile phone to destroy all the clues that could lead to him.
The DGP said that IEDs received by Arif were air-dropped through drones.
“He has confessed to his crime and a strong charge-sheet will be produced against him,” he said.
To a query about Dhangri killings and the status of the case, Dilbag Singh said that the investigations were at an advanced stage and information will be shared at an appropriate time.
