Deported from US for links with al Qaeda, Hyderabad techie quarantined in Amritsar
IBRAHIM ZUBAIR MOHAMMAD WAS ARRESTED IN 2011 FOR PROVIDING MATERIAL SUPPORT TO QAEDA
NEWDELHI: A 40-year-old engineer from Telangana capital Hyderabad who had been convicted for terror financing has been deported by the United States after completing his prison term, a government official said.
Ibrahim Zubair Mohammad was arrested in 2011 for providing material support to al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki two years earlier.
Ibrahim Mohammad was sentenced to five years in jail after he pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy, His brother Yahya Mohammad was sentenced to 27 years because he had also hired a hitman to kill a judge presiding over a terror case.
A government official told Hindustan Times that Ibrahim Mohammad landed in Amritsar on Wednesday along with other Indian nationals deported from the United States. He has been sent to a quarantine facility for 14 days and will be extensively questioned by Indian security officials to ascertain any possible terror links in India.
Sharjah-born Zubar Mohammad graduated in engineering from Osmania University in 2001 and followed his elder brother Yahya Farooq Mohammad to the United States for higher studies. He studied engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from 2001 through 2005, moved to Toledo in Ohio around 2006 and married.
Indian security officials who have questioned Ibrahim Mohammad said he appeared to have been self-radicalised after watching videos of al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki.
When his brother shifted to Dubai, he used the address proof of Ibrahim Zubair Mohammad in the USA for bank transactions. His brother told Imrahim Mohammad to collect cheques from his two Pakistani associates Sultan Salim and Asif Salim and deposited it into his brother’s account.
Between 2004 and 2009, approximately 50-60 transactions were made by Ibrahim Mohammad in his brother Yahya Farooq Mohammad’s account.
In 2009, Yahya Farooq Mohammad set out to meet Awlaki. When they could not reach him, they decided to meet one of Awlaki’s associates in Yemen’s Sanaa. According to US court documents, handed over $22,000 to be passed on to Awlaki to carry out terror attacks.