Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and Kanpur police jointly arrested a Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist from Chakeri area of Kanpur on Thursday. The arrested militant was reportedly planning an attack during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival.
The arrested terrorist has been identified as Qamar-uz-Zama who is a 37-year-old resident of Assam.
Briefing about the arrest, Uttar Pradesh’s Director General of Police (DGP) said, “ATS has arrested a Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist from Kanpur. He apparently had plans to attack on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi. During questioning, he told us that he had gone for training to Kashmir in April 2017. He is of Indian nationality and is a literate person.”
“The arrested terrorist was being tracked by ATS from last 8-10 days with the help of NIA. Since April 2018, he was very active on social media.
He had uploaded a photo in which he was seen carrying an AK-47,” the DGP further added.
As per Uttar Pradesh police, he was in the city to identify targets for a terrorist incident. Police have also recovered a video from his mobile featuring images of a Kanpur temple.
In the initial interrogation by UP police, the arrested terrorist also confessed to being an active member of Hizbul Mujahideen and accepted that he was in Kanpur for preparations of a terrorist incident.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]