Police suspect Kashmir terror links of thieves who stole over 100 cars from Delhi

Days after arresting two men from Central Delhi’s Paharganj area for allegedly stealing over a hundred cars and selling them in Kashmir, police has found some of their pictures with suspected terrorists and are probing their links with terror organisations.

DCP (Central district) Jasmeet Singh said the accused identified as Showket Ahmad (25) and Mohd Juber (22) were arrested on Friday when they were driving a stolen Baleno car. “We found the accused are members of an auto lifter gang and would travel to Delhi via airplane and drive the stolen cars back to Kashmir,” Singh said.

Initially, police made their arrest for stealing cars, but after questioning and checking their phones, they found that two might be involved with terror organisations in Kashmir.

Sources told the Indian Express that a team of Intelligence Bureau officials and Kashmir Police have come to Delhi to interrogate the two men. “A team of Delhi Police will also go to Sopore in Baramulla with Kashmir Police to ascertain if the stolen cars were being sold to members of terror organisations in the valley,” police sources said.

During questioning, Ahmad told police he works as a government contractor and lives in Baramulla district. ‘In the last month, he came from Sopore to Delhi six times via airplane to steal cars and drive them back to Kashmir. We tried asking him about his associates and the receiver of the stolen cars but he gave us bogus names. He is changing his statements,” said a senior police officer.

The Central district team also found photos of weapons, drones and terrorists and victims of terror attacks from their phones. “We found many such photos from Ahmad’s phone and asked him about it but he is not giving a clear answer. He is now telling us that he’s part of media groups in Kashmir. Also, he has several burn injuries on his hands. We suspect there are caused due to use of explosives,” added the officer.

Singh said, “We are looking into several angles in this case. There are many unconnected dots now. After investigation, we would be able to tell about Ahmad and who were the people who have received the stolen cars in Kashmir”

While Ahmad hails from Kashmir, his associate Juber hails from Shamli in UP and works as a mechanic. The duo worked with Ahmad’s friends and other gang members- Rinku and Waseem to earn quick money by stealing cars.

Singh earlier said the accused Rinku would steal the cars and give them to Juber and Ahmad. “We received information in March this year that two men are coming to Delhi to receive stolen cars. Our team traced the movements of the gang members. On Friday, three of the accused -Rinku, Juber and Ahmad were driving a stolen Baleno car. Our team found them in Paharganj and laid a trap to arrest them. While Juber and Ahmad were arrested, Rinku managed to escape,” he added.