‘Lone wolf terrorist’ from Pakistan held in East Delhi

The police said Mohammad Ashraf, 40, who was arrested from east Delhi’s Laxmi Nagar area on Tuesday morning, had an Indian passport, Aadhaar card and other documents, and was about to launch a “lone-wolf attack”, during the ongoing or upcoming festivals

The Delhi Police on Tuesday claimed to have averted a terrorist strike during the ongoing festive season with the arrest of an alleged “lone wolf” terrorist who was sent to India 17 years ago by the Pakistani intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), for launching attacks in India.

Alleged Pakistani terrorist Mohammad Ashraf, who was arrested from Delhi's Laxmi Nagar area, being brought to Patiala House Court, in New Delhi on Tuesday. (ANI)

The police said Mohammad Ashraf, 40, who was arrested from east Delhi’s Laxmi Nagar area on Tuesday morning, had an Indian passport, Aadhaar card and other documents, and was about to launch a “lone-wolf attack”, during the ongoing or upcoming festivals. Lone wolf is a term used by security agencies to describe terrorists who operate alone.

Special cell officers involved with the arrest said one AK-47 assault rifle with two magazines and 60 bullets, two sophisticated Chinese pistols with 50 rounds, and one hand grenade was recovered from a place near Yamuna Ghat in south Delhi’s Kalindi Kunj, on the information provided by Ashraf.

The officers said the arms and ammunition were sent to him from Pakistan through the Punjab border by his ISI handler, whom Ashraf identified as Nasir.

Deputy commissioner of police (special cell) Pramod Singh Kushwah said, “Ashraf claims that he has not been told about the place and the date when the terror attack had to be executed. He only had received coordinates of the place where the weapons and explosives were delivered. We suspect that Ashraf’s handler was sharing information with him on need-to-know-basis. Ashraf was only told about the delivery of the weapons and explosives but not about the person who was delivering them.”

On Tuesday, Ashraf was produced before chief metropolitan magistrate (CMM) Pankaj Sharma at Patiala House court and was sent to special cell’s custody for 14 days for further interrogation. He has been booked under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Explosive Act and Arms Act.

Special cell officers said Ashraf, whose name in the passport and Aadhaar card has been given as Ali Ahmed Noor, was an active part of a sleeper cell module of the ISI, and added that he has confessed to have carried out many terror strikes and espionage activities in Jammu and Kashmir and other states in the country.

“We are verifying his disclosures because the claims that he is making are very sensitive and beyond our imagination. That’s the reason we are not revealing details of the terror strikes that he said he was involved in,” said an officer who asked not to be named.

Officers said that Ashraf was living in Delhi as a “Peer Maulana” (an ascetic), who solved health, family and personal problems of people through spiritual means. The added that Ashraf was “activated for executing the terror strike” by his handlers in mid-September, soon after the special cell arrested six people who were part of a Pakistan-trained terror module, and were planning serial blasts and targeted killings in at least three states during the festive season.

“Although Ashraf is not part of that module and he doesn’t know the six arrested men, the way he was activated after their arrest gives us reasons to believe that the handlers of both the modules may be the same. When the first module was busted, the ISI handler activated Ashraf for the job,” the officer added.

DCP Kushwah said information about Ashraf’s involvement in the planned terror strike came through “reliable sources” and he was arrested on Monday. His preliminary interrogation revealed that soon after he completed his Class 10 from a school at his hometown in Pakistan’s Naroval Punjab in 2004, he was recruited by the ISI. He was trained for six months in Siyalkot, Pakistan by his handler, Nasir, who motivated him to work as a sleeper cell agent in India.

After completing his training, Ashraf entered India via Bangladesh through Sliliguri border in West Bengal. He stayed in Kolkata for a few months, and then moved to Ajmer in Rajasthan, where he befriended a cleric at a local mosque. In the year 2006, he accompanied the cleric to Delhi. He met relatives of the cleric and managed to win over their trust, and started receiving money from his ISI handler Nasir through online money transfer using IDs of cleric’s relative, said a second special cell officer.

“During that time, Ashraf remained in touch with his handler through emails. In the recent past, Ashraf was using encrypted mobile applications for having conversation with his handler,” the DCP added.

About Ashraf’s Indian identification documents (IDs), officers said that he first procured an ID from Bihar and used it to obtain Aadhaar card, passport and other papers in Delhi. His Aadhard card is registered at an address in east Delhi’s Aaram Park near Geeta Colony, where he lived as a tenant for nearly a year. Ashraf also lived in Vaishali, Ghaziabad and married a local woman. He left her nearly six months after their marriage and moved to other place in Delhi.

“We have found that Ashraf travelled to Saudi Arabia and Thailand four-five years ago using his Indian passport. He may have met his handler there,” said Kushwah.