Srinagar: Mohammad Yousuf Katari (26) would still be providing logistics support to terrorists from across the border had the security forces not chanced upon a half-burnt mobile charger from the Op Mahadev encounter site.
Katari, an Over-Ground Worker (OGW) of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), was arrested in the last week of September on charges of helping the three Pakistani terrorists directly involved in the Pahalgam terror attack of April 22 in which 26 people, most of them tourists from across the country, lost their lives.
During interrogation, he confessed that he met the Pakistani terrorists on four occasions in the Zabarwan Hills outside Srinagar and also gave them an android mobile phone charger.
The terrorists, identified as Sulieman alias Asif (mastermind of the Pahalgam attack), Jibran (linked to the October 2024 Sonamarg Tunnel attack), and Hamza Afghani were hunted down and killed on July 29 in an encounter named Op Mahadev.
What followed was an in-depth forensic analysis of material recovered from the site of the operation. While the seized weapons were sent for ballistic tests to confirm a match with bullets recovered from the bodies of those killed in Pahalgam, other items were also checked.
One of these was a half-burnt mobile charger. The Srinagar Police launched a drive to trace its original owner, who claimed that he had sold it along with his phone to a dealer. It was from that dealer that the police came to know of Katari, who had purchased the second hand phone and charger.
According to officials, Katari reportedly taught nomadic students in the higher reaches. This made him a key resource for the LeT. Not only did he provide material support to the foreign terrorists, he also guided them through the difficult terrain.
Katari may be handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is already probing the larger conspiracy of the Pahalgam attack. The agency has already arrested two people for providing logistics support and shelter to the terrorists.
