Three terrorists were arrested with arms after their pictures holding AK-47 rifles went viral on social media.
The trio was identified as Aabid Hussain W son of Gulzar Ahmad resident of Lalpora, Zakir Rafiq Bhat son of Abdul Rashid resident of Lalpora and Javid Ahmad Dar son of Ghulam Qadir resident of Thayan Kalaroos.
"Prompt contact tracing revealed their presence in the forest area of Gungbugh area of Lolab. Accordingly, Kupwara Police along with 28RR and 162Bn CRPF launched a cordon and search operation in the area", revealed sources.
During the search operation, they started firing on the search party.
However, repeated announcements were made to persuade them to surrender and after a brief shootout, all the three were apprehended alive during the operation.
Incriminating materials including arms and ammunition were recovered from their possession. A case under relevant sections of law was registered at police station Sogam and investigation was set into motion.
Preliminary investigation reveals that these three were in contact with terrorist handlers across Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) via social media, who motivated them to pick arms and join terror ranks.
However, the swift intervention of police and security forces led to their prompt tracing.
( With inputs from ANI )