On Monday, May 20, the Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) of Gujarat Police arrested four terrorists at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad. According to the local police, all the arrested terrorists are residents of Sri Lanka, and are associated with the Islamic State, Desh Gujarat reported.
Gujarat DGP Vikash Sahay said, “Information was received that 4 people, namely, Mohammad Nusrat, Mohammad Nufran, Mohammad Faris and Mohammad Razdin. These 4 people are Sri Lankan nationals and are active members of the banned terror outfit Islamic State. All four of them are completely radicalised by the ISIS ideology and they are going to come to India to commit a terror attack.”
#WATCH | Ahmedabad: Gujarat DGP Vikash Sahay says, "Information was received that 4 people, namely, Mohammad Nusrat, Mohammad Nufran, Mohammad Faris and Mohammad Razdin. These 4 people are Sri Lankan nationals and are active members of the banned terror outfit Islamic State. All… https://t.co/7Vb74B2Yj3 pic.twitter.com/Xm4httObhr
— ANI (@ANI) May 20, 2024
The ATS has started investigating the case following the arrests of the Islamic State terrorists. The ATS is currently interrogating the terrorists to determine their purpose for arriving in Ahmedabad. Efforts are ongoing to uncover their intentions for arriving in the state.
Initial investigation by ATS has revealed that the Islamic State terrorists traveled from Sri Lanka to Ahmedabad via Chennai. The Gujarat ATS arrested them before they could reach their intended target.
It has also been uncovered during the initial investigation that these terrorists were awaiting orders from their handlers in Pakistan who were expected to deliver them weapons to aid in their intended attack. The ATS has also recovered encrypted chats from the terrorists’ phones.
The arrest of the four ISIS terrorists from Gujarat comes shortly after Surat Police arrested Maulvi Sohail Abubakar for conspiring to kill suspended Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Nupur Sharma, party MLA from Hyderabad’s Goshamahal T Raja Singh, Sudarshan News editor-in-chief Suresh Chavhanke, and Sanatan Sangh national chairman as well as social media activist Updesh Rana.
The cleric was in touch with handlers from Pakistan and Nepal over the previous year and a half, the police uncovered during their inquiry. The handler in Nepal has been identified as Shahzad. The cleric talked with each of them via a SIM Card issued from Laos. He used WhatsApp and other social media platforms to communicate. Sohail was ordered by his superiors to ‘straighten out’ those who were defaming the honour of the Islamic Prophet.
