The Assam Police have said that they have busted a module of the Hizbul Mujahideen terror group with the arrest of three people for their alleged links with a terrorist arrested last week.
The three, identified as Shahnawaz Alam, Saidul Alam and Omar Faruk, were arrested from Hojai, Udali and Byrnihat, along the Assam-Meghalaya border, respectively, on Friday and Saturday, Director General of Police Kuladhar Saikia told reporters.
They were believed to have had links with Hizbul terrorist Qamar-uz-Zama who was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad, he said.
"The three persons had regular interaction with Zama and we are investigating the information provided by them (to him)," Mr Saikia said.
"We are also investigating Zama's visit to Assam earlier this year (including) the places he visited, the persons with whom he stayed, the purpose of his visit, among other aspects," he added.
Shahnawaz had allegedly arranged a mobile SIM card for Zama by providing a fake identity card, while Saidul is a close friend of the terrorist and had stayed with him in Kashmir.
Zama allegedly stayed with Omar in Guwahati during his last visit.
A resident of Assam, Zama was arrested on Thursday by Uttar Pradesh ATS following inputs from the National Investigation Agency that he planned to attack a temple in Kanpur during the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations and had conducted a recce.
Zama had undergone training in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district in April 2017, as per security forces. He had also undergone training in Pakistan in 2017 and joined the Hizbul there. He also stayed abroad between 2008 and 2012, as per information provided by the UP Police with Assam Police.
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