PhD scholar, engineer held for militant links

Azhar Qadri 

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, August 4

The police today said a PhD scholar, a mechanical engineer and a government employee had been detained for links with a suspected militant module set up by a London-based Kashmiri doctor.

Kashmir zone IG SJM Gillani said a PhD scholar, a mechanical engineer and a government employee were among detainees after police busted a module linked to the Hizbul Mujahideen.

The police on Monday claimed to have arrested a Kashmiri doctor, who is based in London since 2006, on suspicion of setting up a militant sleeper cell. 

Mohammad Shaheen Baba, a resident of Chadoora in central Kashmir’s Budgam district, was arrested on Sunday afternoon when he was heading to airport. Baba was working as a physiotherapist in London, the police had said.

It added that Baba was acting as the commander of the sleeper cell and was operating under an alias, Zaid bin Tariq. 

The police said the preliminary investigation had revealed that the militant cell was planning to carry out “sensational acts” by triggering Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blasts.

Baba is married to an American national of Pakistani origin. The doctor and other accused are being questioned by the police investigators. The busting of the sleeper cell, involving the London-based doctor, is emerging as one of the most high profile militancy case in the recent years.

The arrested members of the group have been identified are Mudasir Ahmad Baba alias Aurangzaib, Basharat Hussain Baba, Uqab Ahmad Wazir and Manzoor Ahmad.