Pathankot attack: Interpol issues Red Corner notice against JeM chief Masood Azhar, brother Md. Rauf

Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar and his brother Abdul Rauf are wanted in India for their alleged role in the conspiracy to attack the strategic IAF base in Pathankot.

New Delhi: The International Police Association (Interpol) on Tuesday issued a Red Corner notice against Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar and his brother Abdul Rauf for their alleged role in the conspiracy to attack the strategic Indian Air Force Base in Pathankot.

The development was confirmed by news agency ANI which reported that a Red Corner notice was issued against Azhar and his brother in connection with the Pathankot attack case.

After securing an arrest warrant from a special court, the National Investigative Agency (NIA) had recently approached the Interpol for issuing a Red Corner Notice against Azhar and three others for their alleged role in the Pathankot attack case.

A dossier along with the non-bailable warrant issued by a special NIA court in Mohali in Punjab was reportedly sent to the CBI, which is the nodal agency representing the Interpol in the country.

As per reports, the NIA had sought warrant against 47-year-old Azhar, his brother Abdul Rauf, Kashif Jan and Shahid Latif, two handlers of JeM terrorists who had infiltrated into India through Bamiyal sector of Punjab in the wee hours of December 30 to launch the terror assault.

The JeM terrorists had initially hijacked a taxi and killed its driver Ikagar Singh before commandeering another vehicle which carried a Punjab Police officer Salwinder Singh, his friend Rajesh Verma and cook Madan Gopal on the intervening night of December 31 and January one.

The terrorists, four of whom have been identified as Nasir Hussain (Punjab province), Abu Bakar, (Gujranwala), Umar Farooq and Abdul Qayum (both from Sindh), entered into the IAF base and carried out a suicide attack in the wee hours of January 2.

The NIA court had issued an ‘open-ended non-bailable warrant’ against Azhar and three others for allegedly entering into a criminal conspiracy with JeM terrorists and carrying out a terror strike on the IAF base which left seven security personnel dead. Bodies of four slain terrorists were also recovered from the sight of encounter which lasted nearly 80 hours.

The NIA had forwarded the warrant to Interpol along with the gist of evidence that it has found against the four which included telephonic conversation between the terrorists and their handlers like Jaan and Latif.

The NIA has also shared the Internet Protocol address of the website which uploaded a video of Abdul Rauf, brother of Masood Azhar. In the video, he was seen claiming responsibility for the attack and complimenting his boys for it. The video has since been removed and the website has also gone off the cyber world.

India had built a strong case for seeking UN sanctions against Azhar but the move was vetoed by China.