On Friday (February 10), a Delhi court convicted four terrorists under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The accused were identified as Mohammad Asif (Uttar Pradesh), Abdul Sami (Haryana), Abdul Rehman (Odisha), and Zafar Masood (Delhi).
As per a report by The Times of India, Mohammad Asif was arrested in 2015 after the Indian Intelligence agency busted the first module of the terror outfit Al Qaida in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).
The development came a year after Asif had approached the Indian embassy in Istanbul over a lost passport. While the embassy helped him return to India in 2014, he was arrested along with his 3 aides in an extensive 6-month operation conducted nationwide by Indian Intelligence.
How the Indian intelligence had a “tourist” lose his passport and used him to bust the first al Qaida in Indian subcontinent (AQIS) module in the country in 2015. pic.twitter.com/AJg6YmeKZV
— Raj Shekhar Jha (@tweetsbyrsj) February 11, 2023
They were later handed over to the Delhi Police. Following his arrest, Asif confirmed the identity of the Head of Al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent, Sanaul Haq (alias Maulana Asim Umar).
Haq was a native of the Sambhal district of Uttar Pradesh and operated from the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. He was killed in Afghanistan during a US raid in 2019.
Interestingly in 2013, Yasin Bhatkal, the then Head of the terror outfit Indian Mujahideen, revealed that 2 Indians were managing the terror operations of Al Qaida from India and Afghanistan.
Indian Mujahideen joined hands with AQIS terrorists
It was only two years later in 2015 that the identity of the two men was confirmed as Mohammad Asif and Sanaul Haq. The founder of Indian Mujahideen, Riyaz Bhatkal, reportedly met Sanaul Haq in Afghanistan to expand terror operations in India. Later, Yasin Bhatkal learned about him through Riyaz.
During his interrogation, Mohammad Asif revealed that he, along with his two aides, went to Tehran in June 2013 after securing a 3-month-long visa to Iran. They had gone there under the pretext of paying ‘ziyarat’ (visitation) at the tomb of former Iranian Supreme leader, Ayatollah Khomeini.
Asif and his accomplices then smuggled themselves into Pakistan through a mosque, with entry gates in Iran but exit gates in Pakistan. Reportedly, the mosque route, which was not well known at the time to the Indian authorities, is regularly used to smuggle jihadis.
Mohammad Asif visited Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan before being apprehended
The AQIS terrorist then traveled to Quetta and Pishin districts in Balochistan province before making their way to Ghazni in Afghanistan. Thereafter, he and his aides proceeded toward South Waziristan and then to Muranshah in North Waziristan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.
According to The Times of India, Asif spent 8 months in a terror training camp before returning to India. He was eventually tracked by Indian Intelligence authorities in Iran, kept in detention for a month, and sent to Turkey.
Since he had no travel documents, he sought help from the Indian embassy in Istanbul and fell into the trap set up by the Indian authorities. It must be mentioned that his co-terrorist Abdul Rehman, who was convicted under UAPA, had met 26/11 plotters including Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.
