NIA uses drones during raids at Srinagar Central Jail, recovers 25 mobile phones

SRINGAR: The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing the escape of LeT militant Naveed Jhatt from police captivity and some militant attacks on security forces installations in Kashmir, on Monday conducted searches at Central Jail, Srinagar and used drones for the surveillance.

A spokesman of NIA said 20 teams of the investigation agency assisted by J&K Police, CRPF and NSG commandos carried out an extensive search inside the Central Jail, Srinagar today.

He said the teams were also accompanied by magistrates, witnesses and doctors.

The NIA raid on the Central Jail, Srinagar took place after the February 6 escape of Lashkar-e-Toiba militant Naveed Jhatt alias Abu Hunzullah from police captivity in a Srinagar hospital and revelation by two arrested persons Danish Gulam Lone and Sohail Ahmed Bhat that fresh recruits of Al-Badr militant outfit were being sent across for arms training in furtherance of a conspiracy hatched from inside the Central Jail, Srinagar.

The searches started early morning and continued till late afternoon.

“All the barracks and the open ground were thoroughly searched with the help of well-trained teams and deep search metal detectors. A close watch on the entire operation was kept with the help of drones,” a NIA spokesman said.

He said during search, 25 mobile phones, some SIM cards, 5 SD cards, 5 pen drives, 1 iPod and large number of incriminating documents and articles including a poster of Hizbul Mujahideen and a Pakistani flag besides jihadi literature were seized.

Police had arrested five people for their involvement in freeing Naveed from police captivity on February 6. Two policemen guarding the LeT militant were killed by Naveed and another militant before Naveed escaped from the spot.