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One-way ticket to Iran led to arrest of terror suspect in city: Official
The official said that the suspect, identified as Mohammed Arif, a software engineer, had applied for a visa to the Iranian Embassy as part of his plan to enter Afghanistan to join Al-Qaeda in March. The suspicion raised by the Iranian official led NIA and local police to the suspect, the official added.
A one-way ticket led to the arrest of a suspected terrorist from Bengaluru on Sunday, a senior intelligence official close to the development said on Monday.
The official said that the suspect, identified as Mohammed Arif, a software engineer, had applied for a visa to the Iranian Embassy as part of his plan to enter Afghanistan to join Al-Qaeda in March. The suspicion raised by the Iranian official led NIA and local police to the suspect, the official added.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday announced the arrest of two men — one in Bengaluru and the other in Thane near Mumbai — for their alleged links with the banned terrorist organisation Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), the agency said.
The NIA said the two were planning to leave for Afghanistan and were in contact with foreign-based online handlers.
The two were identified as Arif, a native of Uttar Pradesh, and Hamraz Worshid Shaikh, arrested from Thane, Maharashtra.
Arif lived in the Thanisandra area of Bengaluru with his wife and two children.
A senior official from Karnataka police said Arif had applied for a visa with the Iran embassy for his entire family but had provided only one-way tickets to Iran, raising a red flag. This set alarm bells ringing as Iran was often used as a route to illegally infiltrate into Afghanistan, the official said.
The official further said that Arif had radicalised himself by watching videos on the internet. “He had decided that he would move to Afghanistan to AQIS. He also planned to take his entire family there as well. As part of this plan, he went to the Iranian Embassy to apply for visas for his entire family,” said the officer.
According to the officer, Iran is considering a route for those who want to enter Afghanistan illegally. “Even though he applied for a visiting visa for his family, in the documentation he submitted, there was no return ticket. The Iran embassy officials raised this matter with the Indian officials, who picked him up,” the officer added.
NIA, in its statement, said that the preliminary investigations have revealed that Arif and Shaikh were in contact with foreign-based online handlers affiliated with proscribed terrorist organisations via encrypted communication platforms.
“The duo were picked up for questioning on Saturday during searches carried out at Thanisandra in Bengaluru and Palghar-Thane in Maharashtra. The NIA arrested the two accused (on Sunday) in a case relating to a conspiracy by terrorist organisations based in India and abroad to radicalise the youth and provoke them to indulge in acts of violence and terrorism,” the NIA official said.
“The case was initially registered at Tilaknagar Police Station in Bengaluru on July 24 last year and re-registered by the NIA on November 30,” the official added. The NIA said the search operations were conducted based on an FIR registered last year after the police arrested a few people in the Shivamogga district over alleged links to ISIS.
In July last year, officials of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) arrested Akthar Hussain following a tip-off NIA on his contacts with Al-Qaeda operators. Hussain, 23, a native of Assam, was living with four others in a rented house in Tilaknagar. According to officials, the accused was in constant touch with the terror organisation through his Telegram account and social media.
An officer, who didn’t want to be named, said the suspects were in touch with Al-Qaeda members using an instant messaging application. He had established contacts in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan. Akthar came to Bengaluru seven months ago and started working as a delivery partner at an online food delivery app. During this time, he was in constant touch with various organisations through social media sites and instant messaging apps. He had also allegedly shown his interest in jihad, and he even planned to join an outfit in Jammu and Kashmir soon, police said.
