India / 19-yr-old bought chemicals on Amazon to make bombs used in Pulwama attack, held

New Delhi: In a major breakthrough in 2019 Pulwama suicide attack case, theNational Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested two more persons, including the man who allegedly bought the chemicals from a shopping portal to prepare the Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) used in the terror attack.

Waiz ul Islam, 19, a resident of Srinagar and Mohammad Abbas Rather, 32, a resident of Hakripora area in Pulwama district were arrested the investigative agency. The arrests takes to five the number of those arrested in the Pulwama attack case.

Earlier on March 3, the NIA had arrested a father-daughter duo (Tariq Ahmed Shah and Insha Tariq) from Jammu and Kashmir’s Lethpora. During interrogation, Tariq disclosed that his house at Hakripora, Pulwama was used by terrorists for shelter and planning of the attack on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy.

Prior to that,  the investigative agency had arrested Shakir Magrey, a furniture shop owner and resident of Pulwama. He had given shelter and other logistical assistance to suicide bomber Adil Ahmad Dar . He was introduced to Adil in mid-2018 by Pakistani terrorist Mohammad Umar Farooq and he became a full-time OGW of  Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), which engineered the deadly Pulwama attack.

Meanwhile, speaking to a news agency, an NIA spokesperson said that Islam, 19-year-old youth has admitted that he used his Amazon shopping account to procure the chemicals for making IEDs, as well as batteries and other accessories on the directions of Pakistan-based terror organisation JeM.

“He also personally delivered the items to the JeM terrorists after procuring the incriminating material online as a part of the conspiracy to carry out the Pulwama attack,” the spokesperson added.

Furthermore, he elaborated that Rather (32) is an old overground worker of the JeM. “He (Rather) has disclosed that he gave shelter at his home to Jaish terrorist and IED expert Mohd Umar after he came to Kashmir in April-May 2018”, the NIA spokesperson stated.

Rather also gave shelter to other JeM terrorists including Adil at his house before the Pulwama attack. Islam and Rather will be produced before the NIA special court in Jammu today.

As many as 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were martyred in the suicide attack on February 14, 2019, engineered by Pakistan-based terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). The Indian Air Force (IAF) on February 26, responded by bombing a Jaish camp in Pakistan’s Balakot, prompting an aerial battle with the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) a day later.