MUZAFFARABAD: Police in the southern Kotli district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) have foiled a terrorist activity by arresting a suspect and the prime mover, it was learnt on Tuesday.

The alleged suspect, identified as Raja Adeel, 22, a resident of Khatar village in Sehnsa tehsil, was arrested on Monday afternoon near the town of Gulpur on a tip-off while he was on his way to Kotli city in a rented car bearing Islamabad registration, sources told Dawn.

The police seized 10 kilograms of explosives concealed in a container from his possession, the sources said.

The suspect was reported to have told the police that he was tasked to blow up either the Rehman bridge or the Police Lines in Kotli.

The Rehman bridge is over a tributary of River Poonch jointly manned by army and police personnel.

Sources said that on the information provided by the suspect, police arrested Mohammad Akram, the alleged prime mover living in a border village of Khuiratta tehsil.

According to the sources, Akram had already served a jail term in connection with suspicious cross-border relations. He was released about a year ago.

He had reportedly made Adeel’s acquaintance in jail, the sources said.

The sources believed that Akram had offered a handsome amount to Adeel for the terrorist activity along with two other persons.

However, while Akram had admitted to knowing Adeel, he had professed ignorance about the other two persons, the sources said.

This correspondent tried to reach the SHO of City Police Station in Kotli for details, but his mobile phone was switched off. An official at the police station said he was busy investigating the case in the same area.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2016