UP-ATS, sleuths from 5 states bust terror module, 4 arrested
LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) and sleuths from five other states on Thursday busted a self-radicalised terror module after arresting four people, including three UP residents, from different parts of the country.
The ATS also detained six people from Bijnore and Shamli.
The terror module was busted in a joint operation with police teams of five other states.
Speaking to HT, an ATS official said the arrested four were allegedly involved in recruiting youths, generating funds and arranging arms and ammunition to carry out their terror activities.
The arrested people are being interrogated by multiple agencies of central and different states at the ATS office in Noida while the background of the detained youths is being checked.
Other then UP ATS, the special cell of Delhi police, crime investigation cell of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra ATS and Punjab and Bihar police were involved in the nationwide crackdown on the terror module.
Daljeet Singh Chowdhary, additional director general (ADG) of UP Police, said those arrested were Umar alias Nazim, Mufti alias Faizan (residents of Bijnore), Ghazi Baba alias Zeeshan (resident of Unnao) and Zaqwan alias alias Mintu, a resident of Bihar’s Narkatiyaganj.
Chowdhary said the arrested youths were under continuous vigilance for the past several months and that they were involved in reading and sharing terror literature on the internet. He added that the detained youths were in touch with those arrested.
Chowdhary said officials were counselling the detained youths to de-radicalise them and they would be released soon if their involvement is not found in antinational activities.
The arrested youths would be brought to Lucknow for further investigation, he said.
An ATS official said Umar is the leader of the module and he was involved in recruiting youths to generate funds and commit terror activities. He said Umar’s close aides Mufti and Ghazi Baba helped him in recruiting youths and radicalising them while Zaqwan was involved in arranging arms and ammunition.
The official said Umar was arrested from Mumbai, Ghazi Baba from Jalandhar, Mufti from Bijnore and Zaqwan from Narkatiyaganj. The officials added that Umar was employed in Mumbai for last few years while Ghazi Baba was in doing tailoring work in a Jalandhar boutique for past two years.
Sources said the ATS was tipped off about the terror module by the special cell of Delhi police and crime investigation teams of Andhra Pradesh, who were keeping a close vigil on the activities of the self radicalised youths for the past several months.
Earlier, the tip-off regarding the UP-based terror module, busted after a blast in a train in Madhya Pradesh on March 7, was also given by the Andhra police. In that case, seven people were arrested from Kanpur, Lucknow and Madhya Pradesh while a suspected militant, Saifullah Khan, was gunned down in a 12-hour gun fight with UP ATS commandos in Lucknow.