Gujarat ATS arrest three for conspiring terror attack, recovers cache of arms allegedly smuggled from Pakistan border

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) arrested three individuals on Sunday for allegedly planning a terrorist attack at various places in the country. They recovered arms and ammunition, alleged to have smuggled from Pakistan, from one of the suspects who is believed to have links with the banned terrorist group ISKP (Islamic State Khorasan Province).  

ATS said that it has arrested Ahmed Mohiyuddin Saiyed, 36, from Kalol in Gandhinagar district. "Saiyed was involved in a conspiracy to carry out a terrorist attack in India and, as part of executing this conspiracy, had arrived in Ahmedabad," ATS said in a statement. Saiyed, a resident of Rajendranagar in Hyderabad, is a doctor who has studied medicine from China.

Saiyed was intercepted ahead of the Adalaj Toll Plaza on the Ahmedabad–Mehsana Road who was traveling in a car. "From his possession, two Glock pistols, one Beretta pistol, 30 live cartridges, and approximately 4 liters of castor oil stored in a 10-liter plastic container were recovered," ATS said in a statement.

Saiyed during his interrogation is alleged to have said that he procured the weapons from "a deserted location near Kalol". The cache of weapons, procured from Hanumangadh in Rajasthan, is alleged to have been dropped there by two persons identified as Azad Suleman Sheikh and Mohammad Suhail Mohammad Saleem, who were arrested from Banaskantha district in Gujarat.

Shaikh, 20, is a tailor who hails from Kairana in Shamli district while Saleem is a 23 years old student from Nighasan in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh. ATS officials said that Saiyed was working on the instruction of a person named Abu Khadija, a resident of Afghanistan and associated with ISKP (Islamic State Khorasan Province). Saiyed was allegedly in contact with several individuals from Pakistan as well.

"To execute a major terrorist attack, Saiyed had been preparing a highly lethal poison named ‘Ryzin’ (Ricin). For this purpose, he had already begun necessary research, procured equipment, raw materials, and initiated the initial chemical processing required for its preparation," ATS said in the statement.

When asked if there were any specific location the suspects wanted to target, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Sunil Joshi told DH that investigation was on to find those targets. During preliminary interrogation, however, ATS came to know that the suspects "had conducted reconnaissance of several sensitive locations in Lucknow, Delhi, and Ahmedabad."

During questioning, the suspects are alleged to have revealed that the source of their weapons was their handler who had sent it from the Pakistan border via drone. The accused Ahmed Mohiyuddin Saiyed was produced before the court, which remanded them in police custody up to November 17.