Pak passports, arms and ammo seized from car, say police

Two suspected militants were gunned down by the anti-terrorist squad (ATS) of Uttar Pradesh Police following a gunfight in the early hours of Sunday in Noida.

The two entered from Ghaziabad and the encounter took place in Noida’s Sector-97, at a deserted area close to Hajipur village, the police said.

Police suspect the alleged militants came from across the border as Pakistani passports were recovered from the car in which they were apparently trying to cross over to Delhi.

An ATS officer, Vinod Kumar, was injured in the encounter; his condition is now stated to be stable. At least 45 rounds were exchanged in the encounter, an officer said.

As per the passports recovered, the alleged militants have been identified as Ali Ahmad and Abu Ismail — from Okara and Rawalakot, respectively, in Pakistan. The police suspect they belong to the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).

Inspector General of Police (I-G), Meerut range, Gurbachan Lal said the state police had raised security after receiving inputs from intelligence agencies about movement of militants in the Ghaziabad-Meerut region for the past month or so. Besides Pakistani passports, maps of various locations in Delhi, 1 kg RDX, 5 hand grenades, 2 AK-47 rifles, 4 magazines, 150 bullets, 3 detonators, two fake identity cards of a Delhi school (see story below) and Rs 18,000 cash were recovered from the car (a white Maruti-800; UP 14 E 9531). Noida SSP Naveen Arora said the two were planning to enter Delhi— “their plan was to target the Republic Day parade.”

... contd.