From fake PAN cards to forged passports: JK police unravels LeT's pan-India logistical web

SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI: Widening its crackdown on the inter-state network of the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group, the Jammu and Kashmir Police, in coordination with central intelligence agencies, has detained several people from Haryana and Rajasthan for allegedly facilitating the acquisition of fraudulent identities, including passports, by terrorists.

Officials said on Sunday that the detained persons provided critical logistical support to terrorists by making documents like Aadhaar and Permanent Account Number (PAN) cards and even voter cards.

The investigation was spearheaded by the Srinagar Police, which generated the entire intelligence. However, as the scale of the operation and its wider security ramifications became clear, the case was immediately escalated to involve central agencies and police forces of other states to dismantle the network spanning multiple areas of the country.

One of the terrorists, identified as Umar alias 'Kharghosh' (rabbit), had managed to procure a passport and has since fled to Indonesia, from where he is believed to have used another forged travel document and stationed himself in a Gulf country, the officials said.

Umar, a resident of Karachi in Pakistan, had infiltrated into India after 2012 and fled using the forged passport, procured from Jaipur in Rajasthan, in 2024, the officials said.

These details emerged after Srinagar police busted a "deep-rooted" interstate LeT module and arrested five people, including a Pakistani terrorist, Abdullah alias Abu Hureira, who had been on the run for 16 years and had successfully established bases outside the Union Territory.

The arrest of Abdullah, along with another Pakistani national Usman alias Khubaib, was another major success for Srinagar police that comes six months after the dismantling of a "white-collar" terror cell centred at Faridabad's Al Falah University that is linked to the November 2025 Red Fort blast case.

During interrogation, Abdullah told his interrogators about his and Umar's footprints across India, especially in Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab, which included a marriage ceremony solemnised by the escaped terrorists with the daughter of a terror sympathiser in Kashmir, the officials said.

During interrogation, Abdullah told his interrogators about his and Umar's footprints across India, especially in Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab, which included a marriage ceremony solemnised by the escaped terrorists with the daughter of a terror sympathiser in Kashmir, the officials said.

The terrorists used forged documents and identities to create a network not just in Jammu and Kashmir, but in several other states, they added.

The officials did not rule out the possibility of placing some of the detained persons under arrest, especially those who helped in procuring the passport and other documents fraudulently.

Three Srinagar residents, identified as Mohammad Naqeeb Bhat, Adil Rashid Bhat, and Ghulam Mohammad Mir alias Mama, were among the five arrested. They are accused of providing shelter, food and logistical support to the terrorists.

The elaborate network began to unravel on March 31 when the first of the three Srinagar residents, Naqeeb Bhat, was arrested from Pandach along with a pistol and other incriminating material.

During his questioning, Bhat told the police that he was a part of the LeT and procured the arms and ammunition from another associate, Adil Rashid of Zakoora and also provided support to foreign terrorists, the officials said.

From Bhat, the police were led to Mir and Rashid Bhat, both active associates of LeT in Srinagar, and during the investigation, following disclosures from those arrested, various hideouts were also busted in forested areas in and around Srinagar.

The two Pakistani terrorists are categorised as 'A+' grade militants, and the officials said they infiltrated India approximately 16 years ago and remained active across various districts of the Kashmir Valley, "commanding around 40 foreign terrorists" over the years, most of whom have since been neutralised, the officials said.

Incriminating material has been seized from several hideouts in various parts of Srinagar and other cities that included three AK-47 rifles, one AK-Krinkov rifle, pistols, hand grenades, electronic equipment and gadgets, the officials said.

This unearthing of the interstate LeT module comes nearly six months after the action against the 'Al Falah module' in November 2025 by the Srinagar police. The probe had then unravelled a network comprising highly educated professionals, mostly doctors, who had been radicalised to carry out terrorist activities.

One of the accused was the Al Falah University's Dr Umer-un Nabi, who was driving the explosives-laden car that detonated outside the Red Fort on November 10 last year, killing more than a dozen people.

He had earlier made unsuccessful attempts to join terror groups in 2016 and 2018, the officials said.