ATS to trace Lashkar operative’s terror links in UP

According to IG ATS Asim Arun, the interrogators were trying to extract information from Salim about hawala operations of terror groups in India.

LUCKNOW: Having been brought to Uttar Pradesh on a transit remand, alleged Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operative Salim Khan was Friday handed over to the Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) of UP police on a seven-day remand with the probe agency all set to interrogate the fugitive to trace his possible connections with the terror group in the state.

The ATS is verifying if Salim funded unrest in Kashmir.

According to IG ATS Asim Arun, the interrogators were trying to extract information from Salim about hawala operations of terror groups in India. Salim was arrested from Mumbai airport on July 17.

According to sources in the ATS, Salim was responsible for wiring money to sleeper cells active in India and one such agent, Aftab Ali, was arrested for spying on military installations from Faizabad district in the state in May. Aftab was working for his ISI handlers in Pakistan. On Friday, a team of police officers led by DySP Dinesh Puri produced Salim in a local court.

According to sources privy to the investigations, Salim had revealed to the ATS sleuths the names of three persons and also the places of their operation in UP. However, the ATS was yet to verify the details. “He is a difficult person to crack. We are yet to establish the authenticity of the information he has shared with us. The names revealed by him may be fictitious to misguide us,” said the sources.

It is believed that Salim has deep knowledge about penetration of Inter-Services Intelligence-backed terror groups in the country. A native of Fatehpur, Salim was staying in the United Arab Emirates before his passport expired. He underwent arms training in a Lashkar camp in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir over  a decade ago.

At the training camp, he was joined by Kausar and Sharif, the two LeT ultras who were arrested for attacking the Central Reserve Police Force camp in Rampur leaving eigh personnel dead and many injured in 2008. The two terrorists arrested for the attack had named a third person called Salim. The ATS personnel, however, suspect that it was this Salim who had a role in the Rampur incident.

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