india

Updated: Apr 03, 2019 00:33 IST

Nisar Ahmed Tantray, the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist accused of being a key conspirator in the 2017 attack on the Pulwama Lethpora CRPF camp, has been deported by the United Arab Emirates, an official of the National Investigation Agency said. Nisar Tantray had been detained by the UAE authorities at New Delhi’s request and deported to national capital Delhi on 31 March. He had escaped to the UAE just a few weeks earlier.

Five CRPF personnel were killed after JeM militants attacked the camp in Pulwama district’s Lethpora in December 2017. The NIA had previously arrested an operative of the terror group in February for providing logistical support in the attack.

Tantray’s deportation is seen as another example of deepening security cooperation with West Asia countries over the last few years, particularly Saudi Arabia and UAE.

The NIA official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Nisar Ahmed Tantray was flown in on a special aircraft from Dubai on Sunday and arrested by the NIA at the Delhi airport.

Nisar had been on the run after the December 2017 attack when three heavily-armed hurled grenades and entered the 185th battalion camp of the CRPF in Lethpora at around 2am. The NIA official said that a warrant for Nisar’s arrest was issued for having acted as one of the conspirators in the Lethpora attack.

An official of the home ministry said that Nisar fled to the UAE on February 1.

Intelligence agencies recently zeroed in on his location following which the Indian government pursued the matter with UAE authorities for his deportation amid a crackdown on JeM in India, the home ministry official said, requesting not to be named.

Nisar Tantray is brother of Noor Mohammed Tantray, the most brutal of Jaish commanders. He was just a little over 3 feet tall but was a deadly terror planner. Noor Mohammed Tantray was also reported to have played a key role to draw the young into the group.

Noor Mohammed, who was famously reported to have been referred to as a “merchant of death” by a Delhi court, had been killed a few days before the 2017 CRPF camp attack. His killing is treated as a major success for the security establishment in light of his attempts to revive the Pakistan-based outfit.

According to reports, Mudasir Ahmed Khan, alias ‘Mohd Bhai’, the 23-year-old electrician who arranged the vehicle and explosives used in the suicide bombing that killed 40 CRPF jawans in Pulwama this February had also been recruited by Noor Mohammed.