Mumbai: In a major crackdown on alleged Islamic State’s (IS) Indian recruitment, the Uttar Pradesh anti-terrorism squad (ATS) arrested Abu Zaid, who was luring Indian youth to join the terror outfit.
An ATS team nabbed Zaid late on Saturday night from the international terminal of Mumbai airport soon after he arrived from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he is currently based. A preliminary probe has revealed that Zaid had formed a social media group that he used to allegedly radicalise and lure youth.
The Uttar Pradesh ATS held a press conference in Lucknow on Sunday afternoon in which it was revealed that Zaid, a native of Azamgarh, was in touch with three other suspected IS terrorists who were arrested by them in April.
They were identified as Nazim alias Umar, Ghazi Baba alias Muzammil, Mufti alias Faizan and Jakawan alias Ehteshyam alias Faizan.
During their questioning, Zaid’s name cropped up and we learnt that he was recruiting disgruntled youngsters from Uttar Pradesh.
The were in touch via an internet based application and were in the process of hatching a terror attack in India.
A look-out notice was issued against Zaid soon after the four arrests,” said an officer of the Uttar Pradesh ATS.
ATS officials have taken Zaid to Lucknow for further questioning as well as to get more details on the alleged attack that was hatched by them. All four accused would be grilled face to face to unravel the plan.
The ATS officials will also question Zaid in a bid to find out how many people he had successfully influenced from his home state of Uttar Pradesh. Officials of Mumbai ATS did not comment on the development that took place on Saturday night.
A case has been regisered against all the accused persons under sections 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), 121 (A) (conspiracy to wage war or attempting the same),
153 (prompting enmity between different groups on the lines of race, religion etc), 123 (intentionally concealing to facilitate design to wage war), 122 (B) (collecting arms) of the Indian Penal Code. Also, relevant sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act have been invoked in the case.
