The Uttar Pradesh police on Thursday claimed to have arrested from Kanpur an Assamese youth on charges of being am alleged operative of the Kashmir-based militant organisation Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.
The police said the suspect, who was reported missing earlier this year, was planning to carry out a terror attack in UP during the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi.
Identified as Kamar-uz-Zama, the suspect was nabbed from the Chakeri area of Kanpur by a team of the UP Anti-Terror Squad with inputs from the NIA, said the UP ATS.
The Uttar Pradesh DGP O.P Singh, who briefed media on the arrest, said the suspect had first surfaced in April this year after a photo of him flaunting an AK47 rifle with his code name was posted on social media and widely shared.
Police said that in April 2017, during his stay in Kashmir, Kamar came in touch with a person named Osama and joined the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen through him and went on to get training in the forests and hills near Kishtwar. He then adopted the name Dr. Hurera as part of the HM, said the police.
Mr. Singh said the suspect admitted during questioning that he was sent to UP to carry out an attack during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival and was even carrying out a recce.
The ATS said they found in his phone a video in which he is conducting recce of a temple in Kanpur.
“We are still to get the details and are questioning him,” said Mr. Singh.
The ATS said it was finding out the duration of Kamar's stay in UP, details of his aides, source of funding and specific targets in the state.
Kamar is a resident of Jamunamukh in Hojai district of Assam.
As per the police, he has a diploma in typing and computers and had failed to clear his B.A. third-year exams.
Kamar has also lived abroad, in the Republic of Palau, from 2008 to 2012.
