[Chanapora Arms Haul] NIA files charge sheet against five in Jammu and Kashmir

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on November 18, 2022, filed a charge sheet against five accused before the NIA Special Judge, Jammu, in connection with the Chanapora Arms Haul recovery case.

“The investigation revealed that above said accused persons are cadres of ‘The Resistance Front (TRF)’, an offshoot of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a proscribed terrorist organization that conspired to supply the consignments of arms, ammunition, and funds to the terrorists of TRF/LeT to carry out the target killings in Jammu and Kashmir thereby creating terror among the people. The investigation also revealed that the above said accused persons used to receive these arms consignments from Pakistan”, the investigating agency stated.

“During the investigation, it has been found that the accused persons are associated with their Pakistan-based handlers/operative/commanders of LeT/TRF and radicalized, motivated, and instigated vulnerable youth to join terrorist groups, such as TRF/LeT in Kashmir”, the NIA press release read.

Furthermore, the agency stated that “the recovery of a lot of incriminating materials relating to arms, ammunition, chats about terror funds besides other materials from the mobile phones of accused persons, established the fact that these accused persons were engaged in terror activities for a long time and thereby threatening the security, integrity, and sovereignty of India.”

The five chargesheeted accused are:

1. Aamir Mushtaq Ganie
2. Adnan Ahsan Wani
3. Ashaiq Hussain Hajam@ Ashiq
4. Ghulam Mohideen Dar
5. Faisal Munir

All five accused have been charged under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 204 (destruction of documents) of IPC; Sections 17 Punishment for raising funds for a terrorist act), 18 (Punishment for conspiracy, etc), 20 (Punishment for being a member of terrorist gang or organization), 38 (Offence relating to membership of a terrorist organization), and 39 (Offence relating to support given to a terrorist organization) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Section 25(1AA) of the Arms Act.

As per the NIA press release, the case was initially registered on May 23, 2022, at Police Station Chanapora, Srinagar, and later the NIA re-registered the case on June 18, 2022.