Night-vision drones to trace Jamaatis in Meerut: ADG

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LUCKNOW: At least 150 members of Tablighi Jamaat , including foreign participants of Nizamuddin markaz were tracked down by Uttar Pradesh police in a gruelling 48-hour surveillance mission that concluded late Tuesday taking the quarantine-and-arrest count of Jamaatis to 3,204, including 341 preachers from abroad.This followed intelligence inputs of more than 500 Tablighi attendees hiding in the state.At least 10 members of a Tablighi offshoot from Gujarat were traced to Kanpur and 123 Jamaatis from Meerut police zone that straddles Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Saharanpur, Meerut, Bagpat, Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad and Hapur districts.Other areas where Jammatis were tracked down in last 48 hours include Hathras and Bareilly . The exercise began on the night of April 19.Additional director general of police, Meerut Zone, Prashant Kumar-I, said night-vision drones along with an advanced surveillance machinery are being rolled out to trace more Jamaatis and their off shoots.“Special teams deployed in every district exhorts residents through the public address system to immediately report about Tablighi Jamaatis taking refuge in their area,” said Kumar.A maximum of 1,400 Jamaatis were traced in Meerut zone alone.Inspector general of police, Kanpur range, Mohit Agarwal said, 10 Jamaatis from Gujarat were nabbed in the city have been quarantined. Speaking to TOI, Agarwal said, advanced technology has been sourced from IIT-Kanpur, including infrared cameras, night-vision drones and advanced surveillance devices to trace Jamaatis and their offshoots.Police have lodged 508 FIRs for objectionable posts on different social platforms, including 136 for spreading rumour, 276 for instigating communal tension and 96 for derogatory comments against individuals or leaders.