‘Ex-cops who joined Hizbul behind recent orchard killings’

Former J&K special police officers (SPOs) Syed Naveed Mushtaq and Rahil Magray, who had abruptly quit the force in 2017 and joined terrorist outfit Hizbul Mujahideen, have been identified as suspects behind the recent killings in Shopian and Pulwama apple orchards.
Top cops with J&K Police told TOI that it was Mushtaq, who had, for the past couple of months, been directing overground (OGW) Hijbul workers to put up posters and distribute pamphlets in Shopian asking apple growers to boycott NAFED’s fruit procurement process.
Mushtaq has been using a moniker, Babar Azam, to sign these posters, they added. The slain in Shopian include a Punjab-based apple trader, a truck driver and a labourer. The terrorists set ablaze at least four farms.
The police sources also said that the two men operated a ‘broadcast service’ in 2018 and 2019 on several social media groups to “instigate” SPOs to join terrorist outfits and began eliminating them if they did not respond. The two have been operating across a 60-kilometre stretch between Pulwama and Anantnag and had recently met 11 saffron traders, asking them to not supply their produce to any government agency.
Mushtaq, a resident of Nazneenpora in Shopian, is suspected to possess four AK 47s belonging to the state police, which he had run away with in 2017. Magray, on the other hand, has been sending “initimidating messages” to growers in Shopian and Pulwama through local boys.
“Mushtaq had whisked away four AK 47s in 2017 during his posting in Budgam. He became Shopian’s Hizbul Mujahideen district commander and has been supplying the weapons to other terrorists. We are in the process of identifying the other group members,” the official said.
J&K Police sources said Hizbul Muhahideen had recently held a meeting with representatives of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), in which it was decided that HM would target civilians while the other two outfits would keep safety installations and security officials on their radar. J&K police sources said at least six messages were intercepted between October 14-18 regarding this meeting held in Shopian.
An apple trader, Charanjit, from Punjab, a truck driver Sharif Khan from Rajasthan were killed while a migrant labourer from Chhattisgarh was slain in three separate attacks by terrorists in Shopian and Pulwama districts within space of five days last week.
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References

1. ^{^} Hizbul Mujahideen (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
2. ^{^} Jaish-e-Mohammed (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
3. ^{^} Lashkar-e-Taiba (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

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