The Special Cell of the Delhi Police announced today that it had apprehended six terrorists who were planning to detonate bombs across the country during the upcoming festival season. Officials said the arrests, which included two people who had received training in Pakistan and had recently returned, were the result of a massive multi-state operation.
The operation today, which spanned Delhi, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, was launched in response to alerts on the said terror module from various agencies.
“A terrorist from Maharashtra was apprehended in Rajasthan’s Kota during a morning raid. Three were apprehended with the assistance of the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terror Squad (ATS), while two others were apprehended in Delhi “According to Neeraj Thakur, a senior Special Cell official.
Jaan Mohammad Shaikh (47), of Mumbai, Osama (22) of Delhi, Moolchand (47) of Raebareli, Zeeshan Qamar (28) of Prayagraj, Mohammad Abu Bakar (23) of Bahraich, and Mohammad Amir Javed (31) of Lucknow have been arrested.
Police recovered two hand grenades, two improvised explosive devices (IEDs), a kilogramme of RDX, and an Italian-made pistol.
According to Mr Thakur, interrogation revealed that two of the accused, Osama and Qamar, travelled to Muscat and were then ferried to Pakistan on a boat. “In Pakistan, they were kept at a farmhouse for 15 days and were trained in firearms,” he explained.
“The Special Cell of the Delhi Police received credible information from a central agency that a Pakistan-abetted and sponsored group of entities is planning to carry out a series of IED attacks in India. The group has multiple IEDs arranged from sources across the border for this purpose and is at an advanced stage of preparation “According to a police press release issued today.
According to the police release, Sheikh and Moolchand, the “underworld component” of the module acting at the request of Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence, were tasked with two tasks: transportation of arms and explosives and terror funding through hawala channels. Osama and Qamar, the Pakistan-trained terror component, were tasked with target reconnaissance and IED planting.
According to the release, more nodes of this network are being identified.
According to the police, Qamar and Osama were also trained for 15 days at a camp in Thatta, a town in Pakistan’s Sindh province.
