Man detained for suspected IS links

Delhi Police detained a 50-year-old man outside Iraqi embassy at south Delhi’s Sri Aurobindo Marg on Friday over suspected links with extremist militant group Islamic State (IS).

Sources said Zuber Ahmed Khan was taken into custody over a call made to the police control room by the embassy. He was taken to Vasant Vihar police station, and questioned by a joint team of local police and Special Cell.

Zuber, a resident of Mumbai, had written on his Facebook profile that he wanted to surrender his Indian passport and become an official spokesperson for IS. Zuber holds a passport valid until September 17, 2017.

On Facebook, Zuber had even posted a message to IS leader Abu Bakar al-Baghdadi. In a post on August 1, Zuber claimed that he would reach Delhi by Rajdhani Express on August 4 and visit the Iraqi embassy. He also planned to visit the Pakistani embassy at south Delhi’s Chanakyapuri during his five-day stay in the capital.

“Zuber went to Iraqi embassy to apply for a visa, but the embassy officials found his behaviour suspicious,” said a police officer. The embassy officials then informed police. On being questioned, Zuber told police that he wanted to go to Iraq for a job. Sources, however, said he was frequently changing his statement.

Zuber also termed 1993 Bombay bombings convict Yakub Memon as a martyr in several posts before and after Memon’s execution on July 30. Zuber claimed to be a journalist from Navi Mumbai, the editor-in-chief of Journalist for International Peace newspaper.

After an initial probe, police said he worked as a lecturer in Maharashtra and lost his job in 2007.

In his message to al-Baghdadi, Zuber wrote that he wants to “work with the Islamic State as a spokesperson or a government journalist.”