Lashkar-e-Taiba recruiter with links to terror operatives in J&K held in Pune
India Today
Maharashtra ATS has arrested Junaid, a 28-year-old, accused of being a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) recruiter.
Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Tuesday arrested an alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) recruiter from Dapodi area of Pune. The accused, Mohammed Junaid, was allegedly in touch with members of LeT and used social media for potential recruits.
The 28-year-old had received money from terror operatives in Jammu and Kashmir. He has been staying with his brother in Pune and works at the shop of a scrap dealer. He is likely to have been in touch with at least 10 potential recruits.
Junaid was given responsibility of hiring recruits and sending them to J&K for training. As per ATS sources, three of Junaid's handlers are wanted in the case.
ATS had kept a check on Junaid since December 30, 2021. Junaid has received money in his account from a bank account in J&K. There is a suspicious transaction of Rs 10,000 which Junaid received and it's under scrutiny.
As per initial investigations, ATS said that as of now they know that Junaid has used 10 different SIM cards for the purpose of recruitment. He communicated using one SIM for one recruit only. He would destroy a SIM after recruitment is over.
ATS officials said that some of his recruits were killed, after which Junaid shifted from Akola to Pune around three months ago.
The accused in this case recruited people from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh and sent them for training. Their aim was to radicalise people, ATS officials said.
