Two ‘terrorists’ with links to al- Qaeda held from city
Two men, allegedly linked to terror group al-Qaeda, have been arrested from various parts of Delhi after joint operations by Central agencies, Delhi Police and West Bengal police.
The arrests come a week before the country celebrates its 70th Independence Day.
One of the two suspects, identified as Syed Mohammed Zishan Ali, 29, was arrested on Wednesday by the Delhi Police’s special cell from IGI airport after being deported from Saudi Arabia due to visa violation.
Ali was among 12 fugitives, belonging to al-Qaeda’s Indian subcontinent module (AQIS), who were wanted in unlawful activities prevention act case registered at the special cell police station in 2015. The list also includes names of Ali’s brother Syed Mohammed Arshiyan alias Haider and brother-in-law Sabeel Ahmed.
All of the men have been declared proclaimed offenders.
Police said Sabeel is the brother of Kafeel Ahmed, who died in the 2007 terror attack at Glasgow airport in London, United Kingdom. Sabeel was arrested after the attack but was let out due to lack of evidence. Sabeel had returned to India and then moved to Saudi Arabia in 2010-11.
Ali and his brother Arshiyan, residents of Jharkhand, were allegedly operating from Saudi Arabia. Investigators said the two brothers were on the Central intelligence agencies watch list ever since their names surfaced during interrogation of other members of the AQIS, including that of a Cuttack-based cleric Abdur Rehman.
The constitution of Indian subcontinent module of al-Qaeda was announced in 2014 by Ayman Al Zawahiri, who became the outfit’s chief after its founder Osama Bin Laden was killed in 2011 in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
PS Kushwah, deputy commissioner of police (special cell) said the existence of Indian subcontinent module of al -Qaeda came to light in December 2015 when the special cell arrested Mohammad Asif of Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal in Delhi. Asif’s interrogation revealed that he was the India head of AQIS.
Asif’s interrogation led to the arrest of four more alleged members of the terror group from identified as Abdur Rehman, Syed Anzar Shah, Abdul Sami, and Jaffar Masood. The men were nabbed from Cuttack, Bangalore, Jharkhand, and Sambhal.
“Asif, Rehman, and Sami had visited Pakistan via Saudi Arabia and Iran. Ali and Arshiyan were their facilitators. Rehman said he met Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, LeT chief and Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, chief of Jamaat-ul-Dawa,” said Kushwah.
In another operation, another 25-year-old suspected member of al-Qaeda was arrested last week. The arrested ‘terrorist’ Rajaul Rehman is from Bangladesh and is an active member of Ansarullah Bangla Team, an al-Qaeda-inspired group in Bangladesh.