The NIA raided the Srinagar Central Jail on Monday and seized 25 mobile phones, ‘jihadi’ literature and a Pakistani flag apart from data hardware, an agency official said. A Hizbul Mujahideen poster made with sketch pens was also recovered from the prison.
The raids were conducted with the help of National Security Guard (NSG) commandos.
At least 20 teams of the NIA, along with the local police and the CRPF, participated in the raids. The NIA team searched the barracks and open ground of the high-security prison that houses some of the most wanted terrorists, including those from Pakistan.
The searches, the official said, were carried out in connection with an investigation over the arrest of two youths in Kupwara — Danish Ghulam Lone and Sohail Ahmed Bhat.
The two youths had claimed that the fresh recruits of Al-Badr, a proscribed terrorist organisation, were being sent across for arms training in furtherance of a conspiracy hatched from inside the Central Jail, Srinagar.
“The searches started early morning and continued till late afternoon during which all the barracks and the open ground were thoroughly searched with the help of well-trained teams and deep search metal detectors. A close watch was kept on the entire operation with the help of drones,” the NIA official said.
During the search, 25 mobile phones, some SIM cards, five secure digital cards, five pen drives, one iPod, a Pakistani flag and a large number of documents and articles, including a poster of Hizbul Mujahideen, besides jihadi literature, were seized, he said.
The official said the teams was accompanied by magistrates, witnesses and doctors.
The agency is also probing the escape of dreaded Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Mohammed Naveed Jutt on February 6 from a busy hospital in Srinagar. It is believed that the conspiracy of his escape was hatched in the Srinagar Central Jail.
