Nagrota attacker made multiple Pakistan visits legally to meet Jaish leaders

Mohammad Ashiq Baba one of the arrested accused in the terror attack on Nagrota Army camp in Jammu and Kashmir in 2016 had visited Pakistan four times legally with a reference letter issued by senior Hurriyat leaders the NIA said on ThursdayAs part of conspiracy to conduct attacks on the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir terrorist Baba visited Pakistan four times crossing the Wagah border between 2015 to 2017 legally a National Investigation Agency NIA official said in DelhiHe obtained his visas after getting reference letters from Huriyat leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani Abdul Gani Bhat and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq the official addedThe officer revealed that Baba met JaisheMohammad JeM commanders in Pakistan and took directions from them after getting clearance from a local ISI InterServices Intelligence agentBaba thereafter on return received instructions on how and when to receive the group of terroristsBaba later went to Pakistan in AprilMay 2017 and met Waseem Abu Talha and Mufti Ashghar He also met Maulana Rauf brother of Maulana Masood Azhar and an accused in the Pathankot attack case at their headquarters at Bahawalpur the official revealedThe counterterror probe agency also said that the three terrorists arrested for the November 2016 attack on the camp Baba JeM operative Syed MuneerUlHasanQadri and Pulwamabased timber dealer Tariq Ahmad Dar were in regular touch with JeM commanders based in Pakistan they were in contact through Whatsapp voice and text messages with Maulana Mufti Ashghar based in Muzaffarabad whose nephew Waqas a JeM commander in south Kashmir died in a shootout with security forces near PulwamaThey were also in touch with Qari Zarar another JeM commander in charge of launching terrorists into Jammu region based out of Rawalpindi and Waseem and Abu Talha the NIA official saidSeven soldiers were killed in the attack on the Nagrota Army camp in November 2016 Three attackers too were killed in the counteroperationThe official said that nearly a week prior to the attack the three arrested accused were given GPS coordinates along the Samba Sector and possible targets along the Nagrota Army camp through Whatsapp from Pakistani handlers They were also asked to conduct reconnaissance of these targets which they didThe NIA claimed that the three accused received a group of three attackers on November 28 2016 a day before the attack and travelled in two vehicles to Jammu after keeping their weapons concealed in one of the two cars owned by Dar and BabaThey parked the car with weapons at a paid parking slot and then stayed at a hotel in Jammu The same day Baba took one of the attackers Abu Hisham to Nagrota to show him the spot to be attacked and returned to the hotel the official saidThe official said that later in the night the three Indian terrorists left for the attack site along with the Pakistani attackers and were dropped near the Army campHe said that Baba and Qadri received another group of three terrorists in March 2017 from the Samba Sector and dropped them at Khrew near PamporeThe NIA official said that a hefty amount of money originating from the Gulf countries was transferred into Babas HDFC Bank accountCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever