Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 22: The National Investigating Agency (NIA) today produced truck driver Khursheed Ahmed Bhat, who allegedly took LeT terrorist Mohammed Naved Yakub and his accomplice to Narsu, Samroli in Udhampur district on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway before August 5 terror attack, in a court here which remanded him in 14-day custody.
Amid tight security, NIA produced him in the court of Judge Y P Kotwal in the High Court complex here early this morning.
NIA early morning produced truck driver in the fast track/NIA court in Jammu and got 14-day remand. He was brought from Kashmir to Jammu after his arrest yesterday.
Khursheed Ahmed Bhat alias ‘Surya’ was arrested after he was identified by Naved, a Pakistani national in his early twenties, who was captured by villagers after he tried to escape after the terror strike on August 5 at Narsu but was captured by local people and the Village Defence Committee (VDC) members.
Two BSF jawans were killed and 13 others injured in the terror attack. A Pakistani militant, Momen was killed in retaliatory firing by the BSF.
The truck driver had driven the two Pakistani terrorists from Kulgam to Narsu on August 4. They had night halt inside the truck with arms and ammunition between Patnitop and Kud before setting off for the attack in early hours of August 5 morning.
Naved, a resident of Faisalabad in Pakistan, has been in Srinagar since August 19 and NIA conducted Test Identification Parade of people detained by the local police in connection with the attack.
The driver, said to be an over ground operative of the banned LeT, is a resident of Awantipora in South Kashmir.
NIA has also announced a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh for capture of Abu Qasim, a Pakistani national hailing from Bhawalpur and commander of LeT’s South Kashmir operations.
He is accused of arranging logistics including transportation, accommodation and food for Naved and three other Lashkar-e-Toiba operatives, who had infiltrated into the Valley from Gulmarg sector in June this year.
NIA sources said Khursheed, a history-sheeter, had taken Naved and his accomplice Mohammed Noman alias Momin to Jammu on July 20 on a reconnaissance mission during which the timings of convoys of BSF and Army were marked.
The militants initially wanted to attack either of the convoys then and there but decided against it at the last minute and were ferried back to the Kashmir valley, officials said.
Khursheed, 35, has already served a prison term of two-and-a-half years for alleged drug smuggling and cases are registered against him for involvement in stone-pelting incidents in 2010 and 2011.
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